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Leucospermum arenarium
Also called Redelinghuis Pincushion
Redelinghuys Pincushion is a low, lax, evergreen shrub from a tiny area of the Western Cape, South Africa, with cream pincushion-like flower heads. It needs full sun, excellent drainage and dry conditions, as it grows naturally in poor sandy soils with low winter rainfall.
Leucospermum arenarium is a lax, evergreen shrub, with arching and drooping branches, that has been assigned to the family Proteaceae. It has loosely spaced, upright, greyish, narrowly egg-shaped to line-shaped leaves, mostly without teeth and flattened globe-shaped flower heads of 5–7 cm (2–2¾ in) across, consisting of mostly creamy, seldom yellow flowers, that curve in the bud to the center of the head. From the center of the flowers emerge curved styles that jointly give the impression of a pincushion. The common name in English is Redelinghuys pincushion. It only occurs in a very small area in the Western Cape province of South Africa. It flowers between July and October. Unlike in related species the flowers are pollinated by hairy-footed gerbils and striped field mice.
The Redelinghuys pincushion can be found near the Piketberg where it grows on a level plain at 120–150 m (400–500 ft) altitude, between the Mierberg and the Klein Tafelberg (approximately midway between Redelinghuys and Aurora). The rather widely scattered plants grow in deep white Tertiary sands, in a vegetation that also contains other Proteaceae such as Leucadendron pubescens and Serruria fucifolia, large tufts of the Restionid Willdenowia lucaeana, Rhus rosmarinifolia and Erica (Griesebachia) species. In this area, the average annual precipitation is 250–380 mm (10–15 in), which mainly falls during the winter.
Gordon's Bay Pincushion · Arid Pincushion · Catherine's Pincushion · Grey tree-pincushion · Heart Leaf Pincushion · Red pincushion-protea · Common Pincushion · Oudtshoorn Pincushion · Silver-leaf wheel pincushion · Potberg Pincushion · Soapstone Pincushion · Ember pincushion
Text excerpted from the Wikipedia article Leucospermum arenarium 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.
