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Common Sunshine Conebush

Leucadendron salignum

Common Sunshine Conebush
Photo: Dwergenpaartje, CC BY-SA 4.0

Leucadendron salignum is an evergreen, dioecious shrub from South African fynbos that regrows from an underground rootstock after fire. Grow it in full sun with well-drained soil, accepting most soil types; male and female flowers are on separate plants.

Family
Proteaceae (Protea family)
Grows as
Shrub
Light
Full sun
Water
Water moderately while establishing, then allow the soil to dry between waterings; it tolerates dry conditions once mature.
Soil
Well-drained, tolerant of a wide range of soil types, including poor, sandy soils.
Temperature
Tolerates frost to about -9 °C; protect young plants from prolonged freezing.
How easy
Easy
Native range
S. Cape Prov.
Climate
subtropical

About

Leucadendron salignum, also known as the common sunshine conebush, is an evergreen, dioecious shrub in the family Proteaceae. It produces several stems from the ground of up to 2 metres (6 ft 7 in) high. It survives the wildfires that occur every one or two decades in the fynbos, where it occurs, by regrowing from an underground rootstock. Pollinated by beetles, it flowers from April to November. The winged seeds remain in the woody cones until they are released after a fire, and are distributed by the wind. It is possibly the most common Proteaceae species in South Africa, and can be found in the Northern Cape, Western Cape and Eastern Cape provinces. Its current conservation status is Least Concern.

Where it grows

The common sunshine conebush is a widespread and common species found from Nieuwoudtville in the north to the Cape Peninsula in the southwest and Grahamstown in the east. It copes with a wide range of soil types, and can be found from sea level to about 2,000 metres (6,600 ft) altitude.

Uses

Leucadendron salignum can readily adapt to different soil types in gardens and is frost tolerant to −9 °C (16 °F). It has a very long flowering season, that stretches from May to December and a colourful involucre that surrounds the flower heads. It also regrows well in response to deep pruning, and this species and several of its hybrids and cultivars are widely used for cut foliage production.

Other Leucadendron plants

Linear-leaf Conebush · Red Edge Conebush · Silver tree · Swartberg Conebush · Gideonskop Conebush · Foetid Conebush · Graafwater Conebush · Foetid Conebush · Riviersonderend Conebush · Witteberg Sunbush · Witsenberg Conebush · Scraggly Conebush

Text excerpted from the Wikipedia article Leucadendron salignum by its contributors, under CC BY-SA 4.0; the excerpts and the care summary drawn from them are shared under the same licence.

The care summary was written by AI (Claude, Anthropic) from the sources on this page, with general growing knowledge where they are silent. Check before relying on it.

Life form, climate and native range: World Checklist of Vascular Plants, Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew (CC BY 3.0), reformatted; see Plants of the World Online.

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