Leucadendron flexuosum I.Williams

Shrubs up to 2.5 m, erect, slender, with few stems, basal shoots few or absent, the female taller than the male. Stems terete, erect, glabrous, becoming rough and dark brown. Branches arising mainly in twos in the female or in threes or more in the male from below the previous years inflorescence, terete, erect, glabrous, smooth, flexuouse, slightly longitudinally grooved, not completely hidden by the leaves. Leaves of the male plant 2.5-2.7 cm long, of the female plant 3-4 cm long, 4 mm broad, in both sexes oblanceolate-linear, apex bluntly rubro-mucronate, tapering to the base, glabrous, no shining, erect, widely spaced. Involucral leaves slightly larger than the stem leaves and yellowish, in the male plant spreading and not concealing the head, in the female plant widened at the base, pale lemon-yellow and becoming reddish, concealing the head except from above. Male inflorescence 1.4 cm diam., ovoid, terminal, solitary, containing about 220 buds in 21 spiral rows, giving off a faint yeasty smell. Basal bracts 2.5 mm long, 2 mm broad at the base, about 12 in number, brown, silvery-ciliate, sparsely pubescent towards the margins. Floral bract about 1.25 mm diam., sub-orbicular, densely tomen-tose, ciliate. Floral bud 4.5 mm long, clavate, glabrous, surrounded below by a tuft of hairs. Perianth tube 1.5 mm long. Claw 2 mm long, recurved more than 90°. Limb 2 mm long, concave, hooked. Anther 1.5 mm long, linear, black with yellow margins, prostrate within the limb. Pollen triangular in polar view with sides 30u, with blunt angles, polar depth 20µ. Stigma abortive, 1.5 mm long, clavate, minutely cleft, acting as a pollen presenter. Style 3.5 mm long, filiform, glabrous, narrower above. Hypogynous scales 1.5 mm long, acicular, pale, reaching to the throat of the perianth tube. Nectar seen at the throat of the tube. Receptacle 1.2 cm long, 3.5 mm broad, ovoid. Female inflorescence 1 cm long, 9 mm diam., solitary, terminal, ovoid, bearing three spiral rows of buds with about 9 in each row, giving off a faint yeasty smell. Basal bracts similar to the male, about 20 in number, lanceolate, brown, ciliate, occasionally sparsely pubescent at the obtuse apex. Floral bract 3 mm long, 4 mm broad, densely short-pubescent, ciliate. Floral bud 4.5 mm long, linear, transversely flattened, enclosing the stigma. Perianth segments imbricated forming a tube 3 mm long, laterals sparsely pubescent above. Claw 1 mm long, recurved about 90°. Limb 1 mm long, glabrous, obtuse, hooked. Staminode 0.5 mm long, anterior smaller. Ovary 0.5 mm long, glabrous, slightly bilobed. Style 3 mm long, narrower below, glabrous, inserted towards the posterior surface. Stigma 0.5 mm broad, oblique, emarginate. Hypogynous scales 1 mm long, acicular. Nectar seen at the throat of the perianth tube. Receptacle 7 mm long, 1.5 mm broad, cylindric. Mature female head indehiscent, 2.1 cm long, 1.9 cm diam., globose with bracts greyish-tomentose and somewhat depressed in the middle. Fruit a samara 7 mm long, 9 mm broad, winged above, emarginate, dark brown, pitted.