Greek conos — cone, sperma — seed, referring to the shape of the nuts.
Shrubs and small trees. Leaves simple, entire. Flower clusters branched and often flat-topped, generally consisting of dense flower spikes. Flowers solitary. Perianth tubular with 4 more or less equal lobes or 2- lipped, lowermost broad, upper 3-lobed, pale bluish grey to white. Stamens fused to swollen part of flower tube or at base of lower lip. Ovary with 1 pendulous ovule. Fruit a nut.
Grown for the masses of long-lasting smokey-looking flowers and leaves.
53 species endemic to Australia with a centre of distribution in SW WA.
Cuttings; seed with difficulty.
Valuable for floristry.
Shrubs with pale blue to whitish tubular flowers which look like smoke from a distance.
Johnson & McGillivray (1975). Popular: Sainsbury (1991).
Source: (2002). Proteaceae. In: . Horticultural Flora of South-eastern Australia. Volume 3. Flowering plants. Dicotyledons. Part 2. The identification of garden and cultivated plants. University of New South Wales Press.