Floral Friday : Leucospermum

Leucospermum (Pincushion, Pincushion Protea or Leucospermum) is a genus of about 50 species of flowering plants in the family Proteaceae, native to Zimbabwe and South Africa, where they occupy a variety of habitats, including scrub, forest, and mountain  slopes.

They are evergreen shrubs growing to 0.5-5 m tall. The leaves are spirally arranged, tough and leathery, simple, linear to lanceolate, 2-12 cm long and 0.5-3 cm broad, with a serrated margin or serrated at the leaf apex only. The flowers are produced in dense inflorenscences, which have large numbers of prominent styles, which inspires the name.

The genus is closely related in appearance to the Australian genus Banksia.

decocraftsdigicrafts