{{Short description|Genus of plants endemic to Australia}} {{Distinguish|Comospermum|Comesperma}} {{Use Australian English|date=August 2024}} {{Automatic taxobox |image = Smoke Bush Towlers Track2.jpg |image_caption = ''Conospermum ericifolium'' |display_parents = 3 |taxon = Conospermum |authority = Sm. }}
'''''Conospermum''''' is a genus of about 50 species of flowering plants in the family Proteaceae that are endemic to Australia. Members of the genus are known as '''smokebushes''' - from a distance, their wispy heads of blue or grey flowers resemble puffs of smoke. They have an unusual pollination method that sometimes leads to the death of visiting insects. They are found in all Australian states, though most occur only in Western Australia. Smokebushes are rarely cultivated, though the flowers of several Western Australian species are harvested for the cut flower industry.
==Description== [[File:Conospermum croniniae habit.jpg|thumb|''Conospermum croniniae'']] ''Conospermum'' species are shrubs or small trees ranging in height from {{convert|0.3|m|ft|sigfig=1}} to {{convert|4|m|ft|sigfig=1}}. The leaves are usually simple, linear or egg-shaped and have margins without teeth. The flowers have both male and female parts, are arranged in heads or spikes of a few to many flowers and are white pink, blue, grey or cream-coloured. The fruit is a small nut usually with a fringe of hairs at its base.<ref name=FloraBase>{{FloraBase|name=''Conospermum''|id=21317}}</ref><ref name=Corrick>{{cite book|last1=Corrick|first1=Margaret G.|last2=Fuhrer|first2=Bruce A.|title=Wildflowers of southern Western Australia|date=2009|publisher=Rosenberg Pub.|location=Kenthurst, N.S.W.|isbn=9781877058844|page=159|edition=3rd}}</ref>
==Taxonomy and naming== The genus was first formally described by James Edward Smith in 1798 and the description was published in ''Transactions of the Linnean Society of London''.<ref name=APNI>{{cite web|title=''Conospermum''|url= http://id.biodiversity.org.au/instance/apni/488812|publisher=APNI|access-date=2 January 2016}}</ref><ref name=Smith>{{cite journal|last1=Smith|first1=James Edward|title=The Characters of Twenty New Genera of Plants|journal=Transactions of the Linnean Society of London|date=1798|volume=4|pages=213–214|doi=10.1111/j.1096-3642.1798.tb00530.x |url=https://www.biodiversitylibrary.org/item/13714#page/239/mode/1up|access-date=2 January 2016}}</ref> The name (''Conospermum'') is from the Ancient Greek words {{lang|grc|κῶνος}} ({{lang|grc-Latn|kônos}}) meaning "cone"<ref name="RWB">{{cite book|last1=Brown|first1=Roland Wilbur|title=The Composition of Scientific Words|date=1956|publisher=Smithsonian Institution Press|location=Washington, D.C.}}</ref>{{rp|227}} and {{lang|grc|σπέρμα}} ({{lang|grc-Latn|spérma}}) meaning "seed"<ref name="RWB" />{{rp|736}} referring to the shape of the nut.<ref name="FloraBase" /> Members of the genus are commonly known as smokebushes due to the grey flowers resembling smoke arising off the plant.<ref name=wrigley/> The type species is the long leaf smokebush (''C. longifolium''),<ref name=Bennett>{{cite web|last1=Bennett|first1=Eleanor Marion|title=''Conospermum'' Sm|url=https://profiles.ala.org.au/opus/foa/profile/Conospermum|publisher=Flora of Australia Online|access-date=4 January 2016}}</ref> though Smith did not get around to describing it until 1806.<ref name=wrigley/>
Australian botanists Lawrie Johnson and Barbara Briggs placed ''Conospermum'' in the subtribe Conosperminae along with the genus ''Synaphea'' in their 1975 monograph "On the Proteaceae: the evolution and classification of a southern family".<ref name="Lawrence 1975">{{cite journal|author = L. A. S. Johnson and Briggs, B. G. | year = 1975 | title = On the Proteaceae: the evolution and classification of a southern family | journal = Journal of the Linnean Society of London. Botany | volume = 70 | pages = 83–182 | doi=10.1111/j.1095-8339.1975.tb01644.x|issue = 2}}</ref> Molecular evidence confirmed the two genera are each other's closest relatives.<ref name="Weston 2006">{{cite journal |author1=Weston, Peter H. |author2=Barker, Nigel P. | year = 2006 | title = A new suprageneric classification of the Proteaceae, with an annotated checklist of genera | journal = Telopea | volume = 11 | issue = 3 | pages = 314–44|doi=10.7751/telopea20065733| doi-access = free }}</ref>
==Distribution and habitat== ''Conospermum'' species are found in all mainland Australian states. Most species occur in the south-west of Western Australia but six species occur in New South Wales and one in Tasmania.<ref name=RBGS>{{cite web|last1=Mackay|first1=David|title=Genus Conospermum|url=http://plantnet.rbgsyd.nsw.gov.au/cgi-bin/NSWfl.pl?page=nswfl&lvl=gn&name=Conospermum|publisher=Royal Botanic Gardens Sydney:Plantnet|access-date=2 January 2016}}</ref><ref name=UTAS>{{cite web|last1=Jordan|first1=Greg|title=Conospermum|url=http://www.utas.edu.au/dicotkey/dicotkey/PROTS/gConospermum.htm|publisher=University of Tasmania|access-date=2 January 2016}}</ref>
==Ecology== Members of this genus have flowers that are pollinated by insects.<ref name="FloraBase" /> The flowers are unusual in that when they open, the style is compressed. When an insect lands on the flower, the style flicks from one side of the flower to the other, at the same time collecting pollen and adding adhesive to the insect. The fertile anthers then "explode" dusting the insect with pollen.<ref name=Carolin>{{cite journal|last1=Carolin|first1=Roger|title=Pollination of the Proteaceae|journal=Australian Museum Magazine|date=1961|volume=13|issue=11|pages=371–374|url=http://australianmuseum.net.au/uploads/documents/30384/ams368_v13-11_lowres.pdf|access-date=4 January 2016}}</ref><ref name=Stone>{{cite journal|last1=Stone|first1=Lynley M.|title=Floral biology and propagation of blue-flowered Conospermum species|journal=PhD Thesis|date=2003|page=4|url=http://researchrepository.murdoch.edu.au/351/2/02Whole.pdf|access-date=2 January 2016}}</ref><ref name=Houston>{{cite journal|last1=Houston|first1=Terry F.|title=Leioproctus bees associated with Western Australian smoke bushes (Conospermum spp.) and their adaptations for foraging and concealment|journal=Records of the Western Australian Museum|date=1989|volume=14|issue=3|pages=275–292|url=http://museum.wa.gov.au/research/records-supplements/records/leioproctus-bees-associated-western-australian-smoke-bushes-con|access-date=4 January 2016}}</ref> The force of the "flick" can kill small ants and flies. Some bees in the genus ''Leioproctus'' (''L. conospermi'', ''L. pappus'' and ''L. tomentosus'') feed exclusively on one or two species of ''Conospermum'' obtaining both nectar and pollen. Some appear to be camouflaged, having white eyes, milky-coloured wings and bodies covered with white hair.<ref name="Houston" /> ''Leioproctus'' can be considered as closely co-evolved. Other bees are too large to fit inside the unscented tubular flowers of ''Conospermum'', According to a 2020 paper, ant pollination, which is quite rare in plants, is a key component of ''Conospermum'' pollination because the plant has overcome the ant's antimicrobial defenses. "Although ants were generalist visitors, they carried a pollen load with 68–86% of suitable grains. Moreover, ants significantly contributed to the seed set of ''C. undulatum''."<ref>{{Cite web|title=Bees? Please. These plants are putting ants to work|url=https://phys.org/news/2020-06-bees-ants.html|access-date=2020-06-11|website=phys.org|language=en}}</ref><ref>{{Cite journal|last1=Delnevo|first1=Nicola|last2=van Etten|first2=Eddie J.|last3=Clemente|first3=Nicola|last4=Fogu|first4=Luna|last5=Pavarani|first5=Evelina|last6=Byrne|first6=Margaret|last7=Stock|first7=William D.|title=Pollen adaptation to ant pollination: a case study from the Proteaceae|journal=Annals of Botany|year=2020 |volume=126 |issue=3 |pages=377–386 |language=en|doi=10.1093/aob/mcaa058 |pmid=32227077 |pmc=7424750 |doi-access=free}}</ref>
==Use in horticulture== Although not common in horticulture, some members of the genus ''Conospermum'', especially the Western Australian smoke bushes are particularly attractive. The western species are difficult to propagate and the eastern ones are not of great horticultural potential.<ref name=Wrigley>{{cite book|last1=Wrigley|first1=John W.|last2=Fagg|first2=Murray|title=Australian native plants : a manual for their propagation, cultivation and use in landscaping|date=1983|publisher=Collins|location=Sydney|isbn=978-0002165754|pages=200–201|edition=2nd}}</ref>
Four species—summer smokebush (''C. crassinervium''), plume smokebush (''C. incurvum''), common smokebush (''C. stoechadis'') and tree smokebush (''C. triplinervium'')—are used in the cut flower industry. Mostly harvested from the wild, they are difficult to cultivate,<ref name=wrigley>{{cite book |author1=Wrigley, John |author2=Fagg, Murray |title=Banksias, Waratahs and Grevilleas |year=1991 |publisher=Angus & Robertson |location=Sydney, New South Wales |isbn=978-0-207-17277-9 | pages=132–33}}</ref> although information on growing 6 species on a commercial scale is available.<ref name=DAF>{{cite web|title=Smokebush for cutflower production|url=https://www.agric.wa.gov.au/nursery-cutflowers/smokebush-cutflower-production?page=0%2C0|publisher=Government of Western Australia Department of Agriculture and Food|access-date=4 January 2016}}</ref>
==Species== {{div col|colwidth=30em}} *''Conospermum acerosum'' – needle-leaved smokebush (W.A.) *''Conospermum amoenum'' – blue smokebush (W.A.) *''Conospermum boreale'' (W.A.) *''Conospermum brachyphyllum'' (W.A.) *''Conospermum bracteosum'' (W.A.) *''Conospermum brownii'' – blue-eyed smokebush (W.A.) *''Conospermum burgessiorum'' (N.S.W., Qld.) *''Conospermum caeruleum'' – blue brother (W.A.) *''Conospermum canaliculatum'' (W.A.) *''Conospermum capitatum'' (W.A.) *''Conospermum cinereum'' (W.A.) *''Conospermum coerulescens'' (W.A.) *''Conospermum crassinervium'' – summer smokebush, tassel smokebush (W.A.) *''Conospermum croniniae'' (W.A.) *''Conospermum densiflorum'' – crown smokebush (W.A.) *''Conospermum distichum'' (W.A.) *''Conospermum eatoniae'' – blue lace (W.A.) *''Conospermum ellipticum'' (N.S.W.) *''Conospermum ephedroides'' (W.A.) *''Conospermum ericifolium'' (N.S.W.) *''Conospermum filifolium'' (W.A.) *''Conospermum flexuosum'' – tangled smokebush (W.A.) *''Conospermum floribundum'' (W.A.) *''Conospermum galeatum'' (W.A.) *''Conospermum glumaceum'' – hooded smokebush (W.A.) *''Conospermum hookeri'' – Tasmanian smokebush (Tas.) *''Conospermum huegelii'' – slender smokebush (W.A.) *''Conospermum incurvum'' – plume smokebush (W.A.) *''Conospermum leianthum'' (W.A.) *''Conospermum longifolium'' – long leaf smokebush (N.S.W.) *''Conospermum microflorum'' (W.A.) *''Conospermum mitchellii'' - Victorian smokebush (Vic.) *''Conospermum multispicatum'' (W.A.) *''Conospermum nervosum'' (W.A.) *''Conospermum paniculatum'' (W.A.) *''Conospermum patens'' – slender smokebush (Vic., S.A.) *''Conospermum petiolare'' (W.A.) *''Conospermum polycephalum'' (W.A.) *''Conospermum quadripetalum'' (W.A.) *''Conospermum scaposum'' (W.A.) *''Conospermum sigmoideum'' (W.A.) *''Conospermum spectabile'' (W.A.) *''Conospermum sphacelatum'' (Qld.) *''Conospermum stoechadis'' – common smokebush (W.A.) *''Conospermum taxifolium'' – variable smoke-bush, yew-leaf smoke bush or paint brush (N.S.W., Qld., Vic.) *''Conospermum tenuifolium'' – sprawling smoke-bush, slender wire lily (N.S.W.) *''Conospermum teretifolium'' – spider smokebush (W.A.) *''Conospermum toddii'' – Victoria Desert smokebush (W.A.) *''Conospermum triplinervium'' – tree smokebush, elk smokebush (W.A.) *''Conospermum undulatum'' – wavy-leaved smokebush (W.A.) *''Conospermum unilaterale'' (W.A.) *''Conospermum wycherleyi'' (W.A.) {{div col end}}
==References== {{Reflist|32em}}
==External links== *{{Commons category-inline|Conospermum|''Conospermum''}}
{{Proteaceae genera}} {{Taxonbar|from=Q2705208}} {{Authority control}}
Category:Conospermum Category:Proteaceae genera Category:Proteales of Australia Category:Endemic flora of Australia