Isopogon facts for kids

Quick facts for kids Isopogon
Isopogon cuneatus
Scientific classification
Kingdom:	Plantae
Clade:	Tracheophytes
Clade:	Angiosperms
Clade:	Eudicots
Order:	Proteales
Family:	Proteaceae
Subfamily:	Proteoideae
Tribe:	Leucadendreae
Subtribe:	Isopogoninae
Genus:	Isopogon R.Br. ex Knight
Type species
Isopogon anemonifolius
Species
39 species (see text)
Occurrence data from Australasian Virtual Herbarium

Isopogon anethifolius, Maranoa Gardens

The fruit of Isopogon anemonifolius

Isopogon, often called conesticks, conebushes, or coneflowers, is a group of about forty types of flowering plants. These plants belong to the Proteaceae family. They are found only in Australia, meaning they are endemic there. Isopogon plants are shrubs with stiff leaves. Their flowers grow in a tight spike or "cone." The fruit is a small, hairy nut.

What Isopogon Plants Look Like

Isopogon plants are shrubs that can grow upright or spread along the ground. They have stiff leaves, which are usually compound. This means each leaf is made up of several smaller parts. Sometimes, the leaves are simple, meaning they are just one piece.

The compound leaves are deeply divided. Their parts can be flat or shaped like cylinders. The flowers usually grow at the ends of the branches. They are often surrounded by special leaves called bracts. The flowers form a shape that looks like a cone or a ball.

Each flower has both male and female parts (it's bisexual). The flower parts, called tepals, spread open as the flower grows. The lower part of the flower stays on the plant until the fruit gets bigger. The fruits then join together to form a woody, cone-like structure. Each fruit is a nut. The bracts eventually fall off, releasing the fruit. Isopogon plants have 13 haploid chromosomes, which are like tiny packages of genetic information.

How Isopogon Plants Are Named and Classified

The group of plants called Isopogon was first officially described in 1809. This was done by a gardener named Joseph Knight. He wrote about it in his book, On the cultivation of the plants belonging to the natural order of Proteeae. Another botanist, Robert Brown, also wrote about the same plants in his book, On the natural order of plants called Proteaceae. Knight's description came out just before Brown's.

Different Types of Isopogon Species

Here is a list of the different types of Isopogon plants. This list includes species, subspecies, and varieties. It was accepted by the Australian Plant Census in November 2020:

Two new types of Isopogon have been found recently. These are I. autumnalis (described in December 2019) and I. nutans (described in May 2020). However, these names were not yet officially accepted by the Australian Plant Census as of November 2020.

See also

In Spanish: Isopogon para niños