Leucospermum catherinae

Leucospermum catherinae is a large evergreen, upright shrub of up to 4 m (13 ft) high from the family Proteaceae. It has hairless, inverted lance-shaped 9–13 cm long and 1–2½ cm wide leaves with a distinct stalk and three or four deep and blunt teeth toward the tip. The flower heads become disc-shaped with age, about 15 cm (5.9 in) in diameter, consisting of pale orange flowers. From the center of each flower emerges a long initially orange, later coppery bronze style with a thickened magenta tip that is bent clockwise, giving the entire head the appearance of a whirling pincushion. It is called Catherine-wheel pincushion or wheel flower in English and waterluisie in Afrikaans. Flowers can be found between September and December. It is an endemic species limited to the southwest of the Western Cape province of South Africa.

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The Catherina-wheel pincushion is an evergreen, initially upright, but later spreading shrub of up to 3 m (9.8 ft) high, that branches from a single trunk at its foot. The flowering branches are upright, 5–8 mm (0.20–0.31 in) thick, covered with a very fine down. The hairless leaves are inverted lance- to ellips-shaped, 9–13+1⁄2 cm (3.5–5.3 in) long and 1–2+1⁄2 cm (0.39–0.98 in) wide, narrowing to a point at its base where it transforms into with a very short stalk. The leaf end has three or four deep and blunt teeth with a thickened tip. The leaves are alternately set, at an upward angle and somewhat overlapping. The flower heads are initially globe-shaped with a somewhat flattened top, later more disc-shaped, about 15 cm (5.9 in) in diameter. The flowerhead sit on a stalk of about 1 cm (0.39 in) long, and are mostly standing individually towards the end of the branches. The common base of the flowers in the same head is narrowly cone-shaped with a pointy tip, about 3½ cm (1.4 in) long 1 cm (0.39 in) wide. The bract subtending the flower heads are pointy oval, 1–1+1⁄2 cm (0.39–0.59 in) long and 5–8 mm (0.20–0.31 in) wide, firmly pressed against the head's underside and overlapping, papery in consistency and the edges beset with a regular row of equal size hairs. The bract subtending the individual flower is lance-shaped with a pointy tip, about 1¾ cm (0.7 in) long and ½ cm (0.2 in) wide, densely woolly at the base, papery with powdery hairs near the tip on the outer surface. The 4-merous perianth is 4–5 cm (1.6–2.0 in) long and pale orange in colour. In the lower part, where the lobes remain merged when the flower has opened (called tube), is 6–7 mm (0.24–0.28 in) long, bulging somewhat at the side facing the center of the head, keeled, hairless at the base and with some powdery hairs higher up. The lobes in the middle part (or claws), where the perianth is split lengthwise, are thread-like, coil back strongly on their base when the flower opens, and are covered with long soft hairs on the outside. Those facing the sides and the center of the head thickened and fleshy near the base. The upper part, which enclosed the pollen presenter in the bud consists of four strongly recurved, pointy lance-shaped limbs of about 6 mm (0.24 in) long and 1½ mm (0.06 in), and covered with fine silky hair on the outside. From the perianth emerges a style, that is initially orange, but later turns coppery bronze in colour, 7–8 cm (2.8–3.1 in) long, tapering towards the tip, growing strongly shen the flower opens and bending outward, the higher third bent clockwise at about a right angle. The so-called pollen presenter, onto which the pollen is transferred from the anthers in the bud, is magenta-coloured, narrowly cylinder-shaped with a pointy tip, about 6 mm (0.24 in) long, with a groove that performs the function of the stigma across the very tip. The ovary is subtended by four awl-shaped, opaque scales of about 3 mm (0.12 in) long. Differences with related species The Catherina-wheel pincushion differs from other pincushions because it has hairless, inverted lance-shaped 9–13 cm long and 1–2½ cm wide leaves with a distinct stalk and three or four deep and blunt teeth toward the tip.