Adenanthos cuneatus

Adenanthos cuneatus

Adenanthos cuneatus, also known as coastal jugflower, flame bush, bridle bush and sweat bush, is a shrub of the family Proteaceae, native to the south coast of Western Australia. Growing to 2 m high and wide, it is erect to prostrate in habit, with wedge-shaped lobed leaves covered in fine silvery hair. It is sensitive to Phytophthora cinnamomi dieback, hence requiring a sandy soil and good drainage to grow in cultivation.

About Adenanthos cuneatus in brief

Summary Adenanthos cuneatusAdenanthos cuneatus, also known as coastal jugflower, flame bush, bridle bush and sweat bush, is a shrub of the family Proteaceae, native to the south coast of Western Australia. Growing to 2 m high and wide, it is erect to prostrate in habit, with wedge-shaped lobed leaves covered in fine silvery hair. The single red flowers are insignificant, and appear all year, though especially in late spring. It is sensitive to Phytophthora cinnamomi dieback, hence requiring a sandy soil and good drainage to grow in cultivation. Its pollinators include bees, honey possum, silvereye and honeyeaters, particularly the western spinebill. The species is similar in many ways to its close relative A.  stictus, but the flowers of the two species are very similar, differing only subtly in dimension, colour and indumentum. It has hybridized with four other species of Adenanthos and is grown in gardens in Australia and the western U.S. A dwarf and prostrate form are commercially available. It can resprout after bushfire, and has a woody base, known as a lignotuber, from which it can re-grow after a bushfire.

The pollen is triangular in shape and measures 31–44 μm in length, averaging around 34  μm. The leaves are on short petioles, and are 2 cm long and 1–1. 5 cm wide, with 3 to 5 rounded ‘teeth’ or lobes at the ends. New growth is red and slightly translucent. It glows bright red against the light, especially when the sun is low in the sky, especially in the summer. Although the precise time and location of its discovery are unknown, Jacques Labillardière, botanist to an expedition under Bruni d’Entrecasteaux, which anchored in Esperance Bay on 9 December 1792, most likely collected the first known botanical specimen on 16 December. He was searching the area between Observatory Point and Pink Lake for the zoologist Claude Riche, who had gone ashore two days earlier and failed to return. Thirteen years later he published a formal description of A. cuneatus.