Leucadendron microcephalum Gand. & Schinz

Shrub arising from a single stem at ground level, male plants up to 1.5 m forming a rounded bush becoming yellow in the flowering season, female plants up to 2 m, narrower, with few branches, involucral leaves only becoming yellow. Branches erect, glabrous, fairly stout, more numerous in males. Leaves up to 9 cm long and 2 cm broad, in male plants somewhat narrower, in both sexes oblong, obtuse, retuse or bluntly mucronate, narrowed towards the base, glabrous, finely veined, smooth. New leaves and shoots short-pubescent. Involucral leaves similar to the stem leaves but more crowded and longer, exceeding the head by a long way. Male inflorescence 1.5 cm long, 1.8 cm diam., solitary, terminal, globose, giving off a faint fruity smell. Basal bracts up to 1.6 cm long, 9 mm broad, about 40 in number, conspicuous, brown, obovate, glabrous, sparsely ciliate, surrounding the head on all sides, the outer recurved and covered with a dark brown oily stain. Floral bract 2.2 mm long, 0.8 mm broad at the base, acute, translucent, glabrous above, with a few hairs towards the base. Floral bud 5 mm long, yellow and swollen above, flat at the apex, glabrous, surrounded below by a tuft of hairs. Perianth tube 2 mm long, glabrous. Claw 2 mm long, recurved 180°, glabrous. Limb 2 mm long, concave, hooked, glabrous. Anther 1.5 mm long, linear, curled upwards. Pollen triangular in polar view with sides 32 µ and polar depth 22 µ. Stigma abortive, 1.5 mm long, clavate, minutely cleft, acting as a pollen presenter. Style 4 mm long, glabrous except at the base where minutely pubescent, narrower above, deflexed. Hypogynous scales 1.5 mm long, blunt, terete, pale. Nectar seen at the apices of the hypogynous scales in the throat of the perianth tube. Receptacle 1.5 cm long, 5 mm diam., clavate. Female inflorescence 1.6 cm long, 1.1 cm diam., solitary, terminal, globose, giving off a faint fruity smell. Basal bracts brown, conspicuous, almost completely enveloping the head, similar to the male. Floral bract 5 mm long, 7 mm broad, broadly ovate, apex very obtuse, glabrous in the upper half, very densely short-pubescent below. Floral bud 5 mm long, transversely compressed, apex broader and glabrous, pubescent below. Perianth imbricated forming a tube 4.5 mm long, pubescent. Claw 1 mm long, glabrous, recurved 180°. Limb 0.7 mm long, glabrous, laterals hooked and concave, anterior flattened and broad. Staminode 0.3 mm long, sometimes divided. Ovary 1 mm long, ovoid, glabrous. Style 5 mm long, glabrous, filiform, narrowed to the base. Stigma 0.5 mm diam., oblique. Hypogynous scales 0.8 mm long, white, blunt. Nectar not observed. Receptacle 1.6 cm long, 5 mm diam., narrowly clavate. Mature female head indehiscent, a cone 4.2 cm long, 3.3 cm diam., with broad glabrous bracts, brown along their upper edges and with a somewhat varnished appearance. Fruit 7 mm long, 8 mm broad, heart shaped in outline, flat on one side, irregularly double ridged on the other, narrowly winged, pitted, very sparsely pubescent, the base of the style persisting.