Conostylis androstemma

Conostylis androstemma has green, hairless, terete leaves that are 10–30 cm (3.9–11.8 in) long and about 1 mm (0.039 in) in diameter. The flowers are borne on pedicels that are 4–6 mm (0.16–0.24 in) long, with bracts 8–10 mm (0.31–0.39 in) long and 2 mm (0.079 in) wide at the base.[4] The flowers are white to cream-coloured or yellow, 25–45 mm (0.98–1.77 in) long, hairy and radially symmetrical with lobes that are 15–22 mm (0.59–0.87 in) long.[3][4] The six stamens are in one level, the anthers 11–12 mm (0.43–0.47 in) long and the style 33–45 mm (1.3–1.8 in) long.[4][3] Flowering occurs from May to August.[3] The plant resprouts from its rhizomes, after fire.[4]

It is easily distinguished from Conostylis argentea by its terete hairless leaves.[4]

Originally named Androstemma junceum and described by John Lindley in 1840 in A Sketch of the Vegetation of the Swan River Colony,[5][6] The species was assigned to the genus Conostylis by botanist Ferdinand von Mueller in 1873 in Fragmenta Phytographiae Australiae and renamed Conostylis androstemma.[7][8]

Conostylis androstemma grows in lateritic gravel and yellow sand on screes and hilltops, and occurs in south-western Western Australia from Kalbarri National Park to Perth and York in the Avon Wheatbelt, Geraldton Sandplains, Jarrah Forest, Swan Coastal Plain and Yalgoo bioregions of south-western Western Australia.[3][4]