Needle-leaf pincushion

Description

Leucospermum lineare is an evergreen shrub with linear leaves and is assigned to the Proteaceae. There are two distinct forms that have not been formally recognized as separate taxa. There is an upright form with orange flower heads of up to 2 m (6.6 ft) high, and a sprawling form of 2–3 m (6.6–9.8 ft) in diameter with yellow flower heads. Its common name is needle-leaf pincushion, or narrow-leaf pincushion, in English and smalblaarspeldekussing in Afrikaans. The orange-flowered form is called tangerine pincushion or assegaaibos pincushion. Flowering occurs in the first half of the southern hemisphere season, but peaks in September and October. It is an endemic species that can only be found in the southwest of the Western Cape province of South Africa. Leucospermum lineare is an upright evergreen shrub of up to 2 m (6.6 ft) high, or a sprawling shrub of 3–4 m (9.8–13.1 ft) in diameter. The branches that bear flower heads are hairless 2–5 mm (0.079–0.197 in) in diameter, and may either be upright or spreading horizontally. The leaves are linear in shape and flat or with the margins rolled inwards, 4–10 cm (1.6–3.9 in) long and 2–7 mm (0.079–0.276 in) wide, pointing at an angle upwards, with two or three teeth near the leaf tip or without teeth. The flower heads are usually solitary or grouped with two or three, have a flattened egg-shape, are 8–9 cm (3.1–3.5 in) in diameter, atop a stalk of 1–4 cm (0.39–1.57 in) long. The common base of the flowers within the same head has a very slim cone-shape with a pointy tip, 2–3 cm (0.79–1.18 in) long and 3–5 mm (0.12–0.20 in) wide. The bracts that subtend the flower head are oval with an pointy tip, about 1½ cm (0.6 in) long, overlapping, rubbery in consistency, softly hairy on the outside, with a dense row of hairs around the fringes. The bracts that subtend the individual flower are oval with a pointy tip, about 1 cm (0.4 in) long and 5–6 mm (0.20–0.24 in) wide, rubbery in consistency, and densely woolly at the base.