Leucospermum is a genus of evergreen upright, sometimes creeping shrubs that is assigned to the Proteaceae, with currently forty-eight known species.
Leucospermum reflexum is a large rounded shrub that is assigned to the family Proteaceae. It grows from a single trunk and its branches are covered in smooth grey bark. It has small elliptic to inverted lance-shaped greyish leaves of only 2–5½ cm (0.8–2.2 in) long. The heads consist of mostly dark orange 4-merous flowers, from which long, identically colored styles emerge, which are directed straight down during flowering. It is called rocket pincushion or skyrocket leucospermum in English and perdekop in Afrikaans. It flowers from the end of August to December. It is an endemic species that can only be found in the southwest of South Africa.
Leucospermum cuneiforme is an upright evergreen shrub with many pustules growing on the lower branches, wedge-shaped leaves, and oval, initially yellow flower heads that later turn orange, with long styles sticking far beyond the perianths, jointly giving the impression of a pincushion. It is called wart-stemmed pincushion in English and luisiesbos (lice-bush) in Afrikaans. The species is common in the southern mountains of South Africa.
Leucospermum praemorsum is an evergreen shrub or small tree of up to 5 m (16 ft) high. It has hairless oblong to inverted lance-shaped leaves of 7–8 cm long and 1½–2 cm wide, tapering at their base to a stalk of up to 2 cm long, and cut-off at the tip with three to five teeth, and pale carmine, inverted cone-shaped flower heads. From the center of the flowers emerge long initially orange, later deep crimson styles that jointly give the impression of a pincushion. It is called Nardouw fountain-pincushion or Nardouw pincushion in English and Nardouwluisiesbos in Afrikaans. Flower heads can be found off and on throughout the year, particularly in older plants, with a peak between July and December. It is an endemic species that can only be found in part of the Western Cape province of South Africa.
Leucospermum gerrardii is an evergreen, mat-forming shrub of mostly about 30 cm (12 in) high and up to 1 m (3.3 ft) in diameter, with branches originating from an underground rootstock. It has narrow leaves, sometimes with three or four teeth near the tip, and prominent, raised, netted to parallel veins. The flower heads are egg-shaped about 5 cm (2 in) in diameter and consist of at first yellow, later orange or scarlet perianths, and long styles reaching far beyond the perianth and together giving the impression of a pincushion. It is assigned to the family Proteaceae. It can be found in South Africa and Eswatini. It mostly flowers between September and November. The species is called dwarf pincushion or soapstone pincushion in English.
Leucospermum glabrum is an evergreen, rounded, upright shrub of up to 2½ m (8 ft) high, that is assigned to the family Proteaceae. It has broad inverted egg-shaped leaves with seven to fourteen teeth near their tips, and oval flower heads of about 8 cm (3.2 in) in diameter, with hairy, orange and carmine-coloured flowers from which long styles with a thickened end emerge, giving the flowerhead as a whole the appearance of a pincushion. It flowers between August and October. Its common name is Outeniqua pincushion in English and Outeniekwa-kreupelhout in Afrikaans. It naturally occurs in a limited area on the south coast of South Africa.
Leucospermum praecox is an evergreen, rounded, upright shrub of up to 3 m (9 ft) high, and 4 m (12 ft) in diameter that is assigned to the family Proteaceae. It has hairless, inverted egg-shaped to broadly wedge-shaped leaves of about 5 cm (2 in) long with six to eleven teeth near the tip, globe-shaped flower head with initially yellow flowers, later orange or scarlet, with styles sticking far out, giving the head the appearance of a pincushion. It is called Mossel Bay pincushion or large-tufted pincushion in English. It flowers between April and September. It is an endemic species that is restricted to the very south of the Western Cape province of South Africa.
Leucospermum tomentosum is an evergreen, mostly spreading shrublet of approximately 75 cm (3 ft) high and up to 3 m (10 ft) in diameter, with alternately set, linear or narrowly spade-shaped, grey felty leaves, with one to three teeth near the tip. It has round, seated flower heads of 3–3½ cm (1.2–1.4 in) in diameter, occurring in groups of one to four, and consisting of deep yellow, very sweet scented flowers. It can survive the occasional wildfire because it regenerates from the underground rootstock. It is an endemic species that is restricted to a narrow strip along the Atlantic coast of the Western Cape province of South Africa. The species flowers between June and November. It is called Saldanha pincushion in English.
Leucospermum heterophyllum is a low, trailing evergreen shrublet of up to 15 cm (6 in) high, and up to several m in diameter, which is assigned to the family Proteaceae. It has narrow leaves of about 2½ cm (1 in) long and ½ cm (0.2 in) wide, mostly with three teeth near its tip. It has small, globe-shaped, whitish flower heads. It is called trident pincushion in English and rankluisie in Afrikaans. It naturally occurs in the Western Cape province of South Africa. The plant flowers between August and January.
Leucospermum parile is a rounded shrub, of up to 1½ m (6 ft) high that is assigned to the family Proteaceae. It has narrow, grey felty leaves of about 2 cm (2 in) long and 7 mm (0.28 in) wide, with rich yellow, globular, well-scented flower heads of about 3 cm (1.2 in) across. It grows in pure white sand in the sandveld of a very small area in the Western Cape province of South Africa. It is called Malmesbury pincushion in English and Malmesburyluisie in Afrikaans. It flowers from July till November.
Leucospermum grandiflorum is an evergreen, upright shrub of up to 2½ m high that is assigned to the family Proteaceae. It has elliptic, greyish green, softly hairy leaves and initially egg-shaped heads with yellow flowers, later flatter with flowers turning orange. From the center of each flower emerges a long pale yellow style with a pink thickened tip that is bent slightly clockwise, giving the entire head the appearance of a pincushion. Its flowers can be found between July and December. It is called grey-leaf fountain-pincushion or rainbow pincushion in English. L. grandiflorum is an endemic species that can only be found in nature in the Western Cape province of South Africa.
Leucospermum formosum is a large upright shrub of up to 3 m (9.8 ft) high, from the family Proteaceae. It grows from a single trunk and its branches are greyish felty. The softly felty leaves are lance-shaped to elliptic, 6+1⁄2–10 cm (2.6–3.9 in) long and 14–20 mm (0.55–0.79 in) wide. The flower heads are flattened and about 15 cm (5.9 in) across, and consist of bright yellow flowers from which long, styles emerge which are strongly clockwise bent just below the white, later pink thickened tip. From above, the heads look like turning wheels. It is called silver-leaf wheel-pincushion in English. It flowers during September and October. It is an endemic species of the Western Cape province of South Africa.
Leucospermum pluridens is a large upright evergreen shrub of up to 3 m (9.8 ft) high assigned to the family Proteaceae. It has leathery, oblong to wedge-shaped leaves of about 7½ cm long and 2½ cm wide, deeply incised near the tip with seven to ten teeth. It has initially yellow, later carmine coloured flower heads. The 2 cm long bracts have slender, recurved tips. From the center of the perianth emerge long styles that jointly give the impression of a pincushion. It is called Robinson pincushion in English and Robinson-kreupelhout in Afrikaans. Flowers can be found between September and December. It naturally occurs in the south of South Africa.
Leucospermum vestitum is an evergreen, upright to more or less spreading shrub of up to 2½ m (9 ft) high and wide from the family Proteaceae. It has greyish, seated, oblong, 2–3 inch long leaves with two to four teeth near the tip and large, showy two-toned flower heads that are bright orange at first by and age to brilliant crimson. From the center of the perianth emerge long styles, higher up bending towards the center of the head, that jointly give the impression of a pincushion. It is called silky-haired pincushion in English and bergluisie in Afrikaans. It can be found in the Western Cape province of South Africa, and flowers from July until January, peaking October and November.
Leucospermum wittebergense is an evergreen, upright to more or less spreading shrub of ½–1½ m (1⅔–5 ft) high and wide from the family Proteaceae. It has globe-shaped flower heads of about 2 cm (0.8 in) in diameter with initially whitish, later pinkish flowers. It has crowded, overlapping, inverted lance-shaped leaves, set at an upward angle and covered in short, dense grey-silvery shaggy hairs. From the center of the perianth emerge almost straight styles that jointly give the impression of a pincushion. It is called Swartberg pincushion in English. The species naturally occurs in the Western Cape province of South Africa. It can be found flowering between August and January.
Leucospermum arenarium is a lax, evergreen shrub, with arching and drooping branches, that has been assigned to the family Proteaceae. It has loosely spaced, upright, greyish, narrowly egg-shaped to line-shaped leaves, mostly without teeth and flattened globe-shaped flower heads of 5–7 cm across, consisting of mostly creamy, seldom yellow flowers, that curve in the bud to the center of the head. From the center of the flowers emerge curved styles that jointly give the impression of a pincushion. The common name in English is Redelinghuys pincushion. It only occurs in a very small area in the Western Cape province of South Africa. It flowers between July and October. Unlike in related species the flowers are pollinated by hairy-footed gerbils and striped field mice.
Leucospermum secundifolium is a low, evergreen shrub that grows along the ground, the tip of the branches slightly rising, which has been assigned to the family Proteaceae. It has narrowly elliptic leaves with a distinct leafstalk, and few-flowered and very small heads of 1–1½ cm (0.4–0.6 in) across. It is called stalked pincushion in English. The sweetly scented flower heads may be found around early December. It is an endemic species that only grows in a small area of the Western Cape province of South-Africa.
Leucospermum rodolentum is an upright, evergreen shrub of up to 3.0 m high, from the family Proteaceae. It has felty grey, elliptic to wedge-shaped leaves of 4–6½ cm (1.8–2.6 in) long and ¾–1½ cm wide, and very sweetly scented, globe-shaped, 3–3½ cm (1.2–1.4 in) wide, bright yellow flower heads, that are seated or on a very short stalk of ½ cm long, grouped with two to four together. Its common names include is sandveld pincushion in English and sandluisie or sandveldluisiesbos in Afrikaans. The plants are in bloom between August and November. It is an endemic species that only grows in a small area of the Western Cape province of South-Africa.
Leucospermum mundii is an evergreen, upright, rounded and richly branching shrub of ½–1 m (1½–3 ft) high that is assigned to the family Proteaceae. It has greyish, felty hairy, or hairless leaves that are broadly wedge-shaped to very broadly inverted egg-shaped, 5–8½ cm long and 2–6½ cm wide and whorl-shaped flower heads that have shades of pale yellow to crimson, of 2–4 cm (0.8–1.6 in) long and 1–2 cm (0.4–0.8 in) wide that grow in clusters of three to ten. Their long styles that emerge from the head jointly give the impression of a pincushion, with the pins upright. It is called Langeberg pincushion in English. Flowering heads can be found between July and November. It naturally occurs in fynbos in the Western Cape province of South Africa.
Leucospermum winteri is an evergreen, rounded shrub up to 1⅓ m (5 ft) tall in the family Proteaceae. Its slightly smelling flower heads can be found between July and December, and are pollinated by insects such as flies and bees. About two months after flowering the fruits are ripe and fall to the ground. Here, these are gathered by native ants that carry them to their underground nests, where the seeds remain safe until overhead fire and removal of the biomass trigger gemination. The plants of this species do not survive the fire that occurs naturally in its fynbos habitat. This species is an endemic of the Langkloof between the Gourits River Valley and Garcia's Pass in the Langeberg, where it occurs on the ridges at 1100–1300 m (3600–4250 ft) elevation. Although only a few hundred plants are known, the population is stable, so the species is only regarded near threatened. It is called Riversdale pincushion in English.
