Conospermum incurvum, commonly known as Plume Smokebush, is a shrub endemic to 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...

.

Description

It grows as a prostrate little-branched shrub, the stems densely covered in slender, pointed leaves from seven to 30 millimetres long, and 0.5 to 0.8 millimetres wide. Although prostrate, it has erect flower stalks that give it a height of up to a metre. Flowers are white or grey, and occur in elongated panicle

Panicle

A panicle is a compound raceme, a loose, much-branched indeterminate inflorescence with pedicellate flowers attached along the secondary branches; in other words, a branched cluster of flowers in which the branches are racemes....

s.

Taxonomy

It was first published in John Lindley

John Lindley

John Lindley FRS was an English botanist, gardener and orchidologist.-Early years:Born in Catton, near Norwich, England, John Lindley was one of four children of George and Mary Lindley. George Lindley was a nurseryman and pomologist and ran a commercial nursery garden...

's 1839 A Sketch of the Vegetation of the Swan River Colony

A Sketch of the Vegetation of the Swan River Colony

A Sketch of the Vegetation of the Swan River Colony, also known by its standard botanical abbreviation Sketch Veg. Swan R., is an 1839 article by John Lindley on the flora of the Swan River Colony...

, based on unspecified material. Its taxonomic history since that time has been entirely without incident, with neither synonyms nor infrageneric taxa being published. In 1995, Eleanor Bennett published a treatment of Conospermum

Conospermum

Conospermum is a genus of 53 species in the family Proteaceae endemic to Australia. They are fairly widespread over the continent. They aren't particularly well-known to horticulture but some of the New South Wales species are known as smoke bushes....

for the Flora of Australia

Flora of Australia (series)

The Flora of Australia is a 59 volume series describing the vascular plants, bryophytes and lichens present in Australia and its external territories...

series of monographs, placing C. incurvum in Conospermum subg. Conospermum, sect. Eriostachya, subsect. Multibracteata. It is the type species of the subsection. Its closely relative is C. brachyphyllum, from which it may be distinguished by its more densely clustered leaves.

Distribution and habitat

It occurs in undulating sandplains of white, grey or yellow/brown sand over laterite

Laterite

Laterites are soil types rich in iron and aluminium, formed in hot and wet tropical areas. Nearly all laterites are rusty-red because of iron oxides. They develop by intensive and long-lasting weathering of the underlying parent rock...

, ranging from Eneabba

Eneabba, Western Australia

Eneabba is a town on the Brand Highway located 278 km north of Perth, Western Australia.The area is famous for its spectacular display of wildflowers in the spring. It is also home to the Iluka Resources mineral sands facility....

 south to Perth

Perth, Western Australia

Perth is the capital and largest city of the Australian state of Western Australia and the fourth most populous city in Australia. The Perth metropolitan area has an estimated population of almost 1,700,000....

. Thus it primarily occurs in the Swan Coastal Plain

Swan Coastal Plain

The Swan Coastal Plain in Western Australia is the geographic feature which contains the Swan River as it travels west to the Indian Ocean. The coastal plain continues well beyond the boundaries of the Swan River and its tributaries, as a geological and biological zone, one of Western Australia's...

 and Geraldton Sandplains

Geraldton Sandplains

Geraldton Sandplains is an Interim Biogeographic Regionalisation for Australia region in Western Australia and part of the larger Southwest Australia savanna ecoregion.It has two sub regions: -* Geraldton Hills sub region* Lesuer sub region...

 biogeographic regions. There are also some outlying populations in the Avon Wheatbelt

Avon Wheatbelt

Avon Wheatbelt is an Interim Biogeographic Regionalisation for Australia region in Western Australia and part of the larger Southwest Australia savanna ecoregion.-Further reading:...

 and Jarrah Forest

Jarrah Forest

Jarrah Forest is an Interim Biogeographic Regionalisation for Australia region in Western Australia.-Location and description:The ecoregion stands on the 300m high Yilgarn block inland plateau and includes wooded valleys such as those of Western Australia's Murray River and the Helena River near...

 regions, and a single population in the Esperance Plains

Esperance Plains

Esperance Plains, also known as Eyre Botanical District, is a biogeographic region in southern Western Australia. Located on the south coast between the Avon Wheatbelt and Hampton regions, and bordered to the north by the Mallee region, it is a plain punctuated by granite and quartz outcrops and...

 region north of Albany

Albany, Western Australia

Albany is a port city in the Great Southern region of Western Australia, some 418 km SE of Perth, the state capital. As of 2009, Albany's population was estimated at 33,600, making it the 6th-largest city in the state....

.