Irwin's Conostylis  |  

IrwinÕs conostylis is a tufted perennial herb, which grows to about 20 cm tall, and has leaves 13 to
33 cm long and less than 1 mm wide. The leaf bases are densely hairy, while the upper part of the
leaf is less hairy. IrwinÕs conostylis has a dense inflorescence composed of many flowers, held on
a 4 -10 cm long stem. The individual flower stalks are short and each cream flower, 7.5 to 10
millimetres long, is tubular for a third to a half of its length then divides into six lobes. The flowers
are covered with short, densely matted hairs. The petal lobes remain on the fruit and become claw like, touching at the apex with gaps at the bases (Brown et al., 1998).
Differs from Conostylis dielsii in the terete, not flat leaves, which are also slightly longer. Also
similar to C. teretiuscula, which has silvery, villous hairs on the leaves and numerous ovules on the
sides and lower part of the placenta (Patrick 2001).