{{Short description|Genus of flowering plants}} {{for|the spider|Blancoa (spider)}} {{Use Australian English|date=July 2024}} {{Use dmy dates|date=July 2019}} {{Speciesbox | image = Blancoa_canescens_-_Winter Bell-2.JPG | image_caption = Flower at Lesueur National Park, Western Australia | display_parents = 2 | genus = Blancoa | parent_authority = Lindl. | species = canescens | authority = Lindl. | synonyms_ref = <ref name=powo/> | synonyms = * ''Conostylis canescens'' <small>(Lindl.) F.Muell.</small> | range_map = Blancoa canescens distribution map.png | range_map_caption = Collection data from Australasian Virtual Herbarium of ''Blancoa canescens'' }}
'''''Blancoa''''' is a monotypic genus of perennial herbs in the family Haemodoraceae; the single species is '''''Blancoa canescens''''', commonly known as the '''winter bell'''.<ref name=fbspecies/> It is endemic to the southwestern corner of Western Australia. It has nodding red to pink flowers, a clumping habit and grows to be 10 to 40 cm in height.<ref name=fbspecies/> The genus is named in honour of Francisco Manuel Blanco,<ref name=fbgenus/> a Spanish friar and botanist who compiled the first comprehensive flora of the Philippines.<ref>{{cite journal|last1=Robinson|first1=C. B. |title=The History of Botany in the Philippine Islands |journal=Journal of the New York Botanical Garden|date=1906|volume=7|issue=76|pages=104–112 |url=http://mertzdigital.nybg.org/cdm/singleitem/collection/p9016coll22/id/81/rec/34}}</ref>
==Description== The winter bell is a clump-forming perennial herb with a rhizomatous rootstock. It sprouts tufts of linear leaves {{convert|25|cm|in|0|abbr=on}} long by {{convert|0.5|cm|in|1|abbr=on}} wide with entire margins and prominent parallel veins, which are covered with silky hairs when young. The pink or red, nodding flowers are about {{convert|3|cm|in|1|abbr=on}} long, with yellowish interiors, and grow in pairs in a few-flowered spike. The plant flowers between May and September, in the wet season.<ref name=Corrick>{{cite book |author1=Corrick, Margaret G. |author2=Fuhrer, Bruce Alexander |title=Wildflowers of Southern Western Australia |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=gzgsXMXxAd0C&pg=PA83 |year=2009 |publisher=Rosenberg Publishing |isbn=978-1-877058-84-4 |page=83 }}{{Dead link|date=July 2024 |bot=InternetArchiveBot |fix-attempted=yes }}</ref> The outside of the tubular flowers are covered with fine rusty-red hairs while the inside is hairless. There is a nectary at the base of the tube which provides copious nectar, and the flowers are pollinated by birds. The main pollinators are the singing honeyeater (''Gavicalis virescens'') and the red wattlebird (''Anthochaera carunculata''), although other birds and bees may also visit; larger birds stand on the ground, reaching up into the flowers to sip nectar while smaller birds may hang on the pedicel, their heads and beaks being showered with pollen.<ref name=Keighery/> After pollination, the flowers fade and wither but remain in place while the fruits develop inside.<ref name=Keighery>{{cite journal |author=Keighery, G.J. |year=1981 |title=Pollination and the Generic Status of ''Blancoa canescens'' Lindl. (Haemodoraceae) |journal=Flora |volume=171 |issue=6 |pages=521–524 |doi=10.1016/S0367-2530(17)31303-8 |bibcode=1981FMDFE.171A2523K }}</ref>
==Distribution and habitat== The winter bell is endemic to the coastal strip of southwestern Western Australia, where it is found in the Shire of Irwin, the Shire of Gingin and adjoining areas in the Southwest botanical province.<ref name=fbspecies/> It grows in deep sand in ''Banksia'' woodland and in kwongan, an open community of scrubby heathland.<ref name=Corrick/> This region has a Mediterranean-type climate with cool wet winters and hot dry summers.<ref>Rainfall figures from "Western Australia: an atlas of human endeavour 1829-1979" (Western Australian Government Press)</ref>
==References== {{Reflist|refs= <ref name=fbgenus>{{FloraBase |name=''Blancoa'' Lindl. |id=21228}}</ref> <ref name=fbspecies>{{FloraBase |name=''Blancoa cansescens'' Lindl. Winter Bell |id=1417}}</ref> <ref name=powo>{{cite web |title=''Blancoa canescens'' Lindl. |url=https://powo.science.kew.org/taxon/urn:lsid:ipni.org:names:429595-1 |website=Plants of the World Online |publisher=Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew |accessdate=26 December 2019}}</ref> }}
==External links== * {{Wikispecies-inline|Blancoa|''Blancoa''}}
{{Taxonbar|from1=Q16880316|from2=Q4087994}}
Category:Haemodoraceae Category:Monotypic Commelinales genera Category:Commelinales of Australia Category:Angiosperms of Western Australia Category:Endemic flora of Australia