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Leucospermum calligerum
Also called Callus Bearing Leucadendrum, Gnaphalium Leaf Leucadendrum, Pink Pincushion, Pubescent Leucadendrum, Xeranthemum Leaf Leucadendrum
Arid pincushion is a softly hairy, wand-branched shrub from the fynbos of South Africa's Western and Northern Cape, grown for its pincushion-like pink flower heads. It needs hot, dry, very well drained conditions and little summer water.
Leucospermum calligerum is a softly hairy shrub, with wand-like branches, entire ovate leaves that have a bony tip of about 25 × 6 mm (1 × ¼ in), and globular heads of 2–3½ cm (0.8–1.4 in) in diameter, with two to six together near the tip of the branches and flowering in turn, that consist of 4-merous flowers, initially cream-colored, later pink, with the petals curled and the styles 2–2½ cm (0.8–1.0 in) long, sticking out like pins from a cushion. It is called arid pincushion or common louse pincushion in English and rooiluisie in Afrikaans. Well-scented flowers can be found from July to January. It naturally occurs in fynbos in the Northern Cape and Western Cape provinces of South Africa.
L. calligerum is one of the more widely distributed species of Leucospermum and can be found from the Gifberg near Vanrhynsdorp and the Lokenberg south of Nieuwoudtville in the north, to Albertinia in the south east. It grows on hot, dry and well drained sandy flats and steep rocky slopes, mostly weathered Table Mountain sandstone, but also on conglomerates of Cape Granite and Malmesbury Shale, between 15–1,200 m (49–3,937 ft) elevation. They are limited to locations that receive between 25–50 cm (9.8–19.7 in) of rain during the winter and less than 75 cm (30 in) on average per year.
Redelinghuys Pincushion · Gordon's Bay 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 calligerum 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.
