Petrophile sessilis

Conesticks
Petrophile sessilis near Bylong
Scientific classification
Kingdom:	Plantae
Clade:	Tracheophytes
Clade:	Angiosperms
Clade:	Eudicots
Order:	Proteales
Family:	Proteaceae
Genus:	Petrophile
Species:	P. sessilis
Binomial name
Petrophile sessilis Sieber ex Schult. [1]
Synonyms [1]
Petrophila pulchella var. sessilis Domin orth. var. Petrophile pulchella var. sessilis(Sieber ex Schult.) Domin

Habit in Dharawal National Park

Petrophile sessilis, known as conesticks, ^[2] is a species of flowering plant in the family Proteaceae and is endemic to New South Wales. It is an erect shrub with rigid, needle-shaped, divided, sharply-pointed leaves, and oval, spike-like heads of silky-hairy, creamy-yellow flowers.

Description

Petrophile sessilis is an erect shrub that typically grows to a height of 3 m (9.8 ft) and has branchlets and leaves that are silky-hairy when young but become glabrous with age. The leaves are 30–100 mm (1.2–3.9 in) long and divided with rigid, sharply-pointed, needle-shaped pinnae usually less than 10 mm (0.39 in) long. The flowers are arranged on the ends of branchlets and in leaf axils in spike-like, oval heads 20–25 mm (0.79–0.98 in) long, with broadly egg-shaped involucral bracts at the base. The flowers are 10–14 mm (0.39–0.55 in) long, silky-hairy and creamy-yellow. Flowering mainly occurs from May to February and the fruit is a nut, fused with others in an oval head up to 35 mm (1.4 in) long. ^{[2] [3]} It can be distinguished from the related Petrophile pulchella by its finely hairy new growth. ^[4]

Taxonomy

Petrophile sessilis was first formally described in 1827 by Josef August Schultes in the 16th edition of Systema Vegetabilium from an unpublished description by Franz Sieber. ^{[5] [6]}

Distribution and habitat

Petrophile sessilis grows on sandstone soils in heath, woodland and forest from the Central Coast to the Central and Southern Tablelands of New South Wales. ^{[2] [3]}

References

1. "Petrophile sessilis". Australian Plant Census. Retrieved 6 January 2021.
2. Harden, Gwen J. "New South Wales Flora Online: Petrophile sessilis". Royal Botanic Gardens & Domain Trust, Sydney, Australia.
3. Foreman, David B. "Petrophile sessilis". Australian Biological Resources Study, Department of Agriculture, Water and the Environment: Canberra. Retrieved 7 January 2021.
4. Harden, Gwen J. "New South Wales Flora Online: Genus Petrophile". Sydney, Australia: Royal Botanic Gardens & Domain Trust. Retrieved 30 November 2011.
5. "Petrophile sessilis". APNI. Retrieved 7 January 2021.
6. Schultes, Josef August; Schultes, Julius Hermann (1827). Mantissa in volumen primum [-tertium] :Systematis vegetabilium caroli a Linné : ex editione Joan. Jac. Roemer et Jos. Aug. Schultes. Stuttgart. p. 262. Retrieved 7 January 2021.