Leucadendron concavum I.Williams

Shrubs up to 1.5 m, developing from a single stem at the base; female plants less numerous with fewer heads and not so tall as the male plants. Branches sub-divaricate, erect, slender, short-pubescent, densely clothed with small leaves, becoming glabrous and leafless. Leaves of male Plants 9 mm long, 5 mm broad, of female plants 12 mm long, 7.5 mm broad, in both sexes ovate, obovate or almost orbicular, concave, thick, short-pubescent, ci'iate, later glabrescent, apex obtuse with the mucro immersed, sub-petiolate. Involucral leaves inconspicuous, not coloured, similar to the stem leaves but more crowded with the petiole elongated, closely surrounding the base of the head but not exceeding it. Male inflorescence 1.3 cm long, 2.0 cm diam., solitary, terminal, hemispherical, flowers creamy white, odourless. Basal bracts 13 cm long, 4.5 mm broad, about 66 cm number, oblanceolate, acute, narrowed below, brown, sparsely pubescent, ciliate. Floral bract 8 mm long, 0.6 mm broad, linear, brown, narrowing and densely pubescent above, green and glabrous below. Floral bud 1.0 cm long, linear, sharply bent, densely pubescent above. Perianth tube 8 mm long, pubescent above, glabrous below, surrounded at the base by a tuft of long hairs. Claw 2 mm long, recurved 270°, pubescent. Limb 2 mm long, linear-lanceolate, hollow, sparsely pubescent. Anthers 1.5 mm long, curled. Pollen triangular in polar view with sides 42 µ long, polar depth 25µ. Style 1.05 cm long, glabrous, except for one or two weak hairs at the base. Stigma abortive, 1.5 mm long, clavate, minutely cleft, acting as a pollen presenter. Hypogynous scales absent. Nectar not seen. Receptacle 6 mm long, 4.5 mm diam., ovoid. Female inflorescence 1.9 cm long, 1.3 cm diam., solitary, terminal, globose, the florets forming a white woolly tuft at the apex, the sides and base closely imbricated by the dark brown basal bracts anc green involucral leaves. Basal bracts variable, 1.6 cm long, 4 mm broad, becoming linear, brown, ciliate, pubescent and acute. Floral bract 1.2 cm long, 8.5 mm broad, broadly lanceolate, very long ciliate, densely pubescent, coloured and subacute at the apex. Floral bud 1.4 cm long, densely silky villous. Perianth segments 1 cm long, deeply divided forming a loose tube, white villous except at the base, where the segments are broadened and glabrous. Claw 2 mm long, long-white-pubescent. Limb 2 mm long, linear, white villous. Staminode 1 mm long, linear. Ovary 1.2 mm long, ovoid, densely clothed in long white hairs. Style 1.3 cm long, filiform, glabrous, narrowing towards the base. Stigma 1 mm broad, oblique, deeply bifid, protruding about 3 mm above the surface of the inflorescence. Hypogynous scales 0.1 mm long, rudimentary or absent. Nectar not seen. Receptacle 1 cm long, 3 mm diam., narrowly conical. Mature female head dehiscent, 2.1 cm long, 2.5 cm diam., globose, velvety with a dense erect pubescence, bracts large and few in number. Fruit a nutlet, 6 mm long, 6.7 mm broad, 4 mm thick, mottled, sparsely pubescent on the lateral ridges.