Adenanthos pungens is a species of shrub in the family Proteaceae

Proteaceae

Proteaceae is a family of flowering plants distributed in the Southern Hemisphere. The family comprises about 80 genera with about 1600 species. Together with the Platanaceae and Nelumbonaceae they make up the order Proteales. Well known genera include Protea, Banksia, Embothrium, Grevillea,...

. It is endemic to the south-west

Southwest Australia

Southwest Australia is a biodiversity hotspot that includes the Mediterranean forests, woodlands, and scrub ecoregions of Western Australia. The region has a wet-winter, dry-summer Mediterranean climate, one of five such regions in the world...

 of Western Australia

Western Australia

Western Australia is a state of Australia, occupying the entire western third of the Australian continent. It is bounded by the Indian Ocean to the north and west, the Great Australian Bight and Indian Ocean to the south, the Northern Territory to the north-east and South Australia to the south-east...

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The species may be prostrate or erect in habit. The stiff, prickly and terete leaves are 30 mm in length and 1 to 2 mm in diameter. The flowers appear in clusters at the ends of the branchlets. These have a 30 mm long perianth which is either pale pink and cream or deeper pink. Styles are about 40 mm long, with or without hairs at the tips.

The species was first formally described in 1845 in Plantae Preissianae by Carl Meissner

Carl Meissner

Carl Daniel Friedrich Meissner was a Swiss botanist.Born in Bern, Switzerland on 1 November 1800, he was christened Meisner but later changed the spelling of his name to Meissner. For most of his 40 year career he was Professor of Botany at University of Basel...

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There are two recognised subspecies

Subspecies

Subspecies in biological classification, is either a taxonomic rank subordinate to species, ora taxonomic unit in that rank . A subspecies cannot be recognized in isolation: a species will either be recognized as having no subspecies at all or two or more, never just one...

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• A. pungens subsp. effusus - erect habit with dark pink flowers.
• A. pungens subsp. pungens - prostrate habit with pale pink flowers.

Both subspecies are highly susceptible to Phytophthora cinnamomi

Phytophthora cinnamomi

Phytophthora cinnamomi is a soil-borne water mould that produces an infection which causes a condition in plants called root rot or dieback. The plant pathogen is one of the world's most invasive species and is present in over 70 countries from around the world.- Life cycle and effects on plants :P...

dieback.