Paranomus tomentosus (E.Phillips & Hutch.) N.E.Br.

A branched shrub up to 3 m high but usually shorter owing to repeated fires and regeneration from seed. An old plant was observed with a short trunk about 30 cm in diameter. Stems covered with a felt of white wool. Leaves 25-40 mm long, all much dissected, the lobes ascending steeply, giving each leaf a cupped appearance, covered with silvery white persistent hairs, many hairs adpressed; the petiole about a third of the total length; apiculum obtuse, glabrous but hidden by hairs. Peduncle short, sometimes lacking, densely covered with long soft hairs. Spike 30-60 mm long, 30-35 mm wide. Bracts on the peduncle ovate, acuminate, hairy. Bracts subtending the partial inflorescences concave, somewhat shorter than the floral bracts, the lowermost when flattened much wider than long, produced suddenly into a cuspidate tip, the length of the tip becoming reduced gradually in succeeding bracts, all bracts with long hairs at the base and along the margin, becoming glabrous and dark reddish brown elsewhere. Floral bracts a little less than half the length of the mature flower bud, oblong, narrowed at the apex, acute, softly hairy when young, the outer pair becoming glabrous in the upper part but retaining a fringe of hairs. Perianth in the mature bud about 17 mm long, the claws covered with curly hairs, the limbs with longer, upwardly directed hairs, the posticous segment less hairy than the others. Style glabrous on the uppermost quarter, hairy below; pollen presenter nearly 2 mm long, dark red, slightly wider than the style, with a small knee-like bed at the base.