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Woollybush,
woolly bush or
woolly-bush is a common name for plants of the genus
AdenanthosAdenanthos is an genus of Australian native shrubs in the flowering plant family Proteaceae. Variable in habit and leaf shape, it is the only Proteaceae genus in which solitary flowers is the norm. It was discovered in 1791, and formally published by Jacques Labillardière in 1805. There are now 33...
with leaves deeply divided into long, soft, slender laciniae, often covered in a fine down of soft hairs. These properties give the leaves a soft, silky feel, in stark contrast to the
sclerophyllSclerophyll is the term for a type of vegetation that has hard leaves and short internodes . The word comes from the Greek sclero and phyllon ....
ous plants that dominate both its geographic range (southern
AustraliaAustralia , officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country in the Southern Hemisphere comprising the mainland of the Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous smaller islands in the Indian and Pacific Oceans. It is the world's sixth-largest country by total area...
) and its taxonomic family (
ProteaceaeProteaceae is a family of flowering plants distributed in the Southern Hemisphere. The family comprises about 80 genera with about 1600 species. Together with the Platanaceae and Nelumbonaceae they make up the order Proteales. Well known genera include Protea, Banksia, Embothrium, Grevillea,...
). This softness accounts for the common name.
13 species of
AdenanthosAdenanthos is an genus of Australian native shrubs in the flowering plant family Proteaceae. Variable in habit and leaf shape, it is the only Proteaceae genus in which solitary flowers is the norm. It was discovered in 1791, and formally published by Jacques Labillardière in 1805. There are now 33...
possess these properties. Many of these have common names that include the
woollybush epithet. However the two species of
Adenanthos that occur outside Western Australia are both woollybushes yet have common names based on the name
Gland Flower. This suggests that the common name
woollybush is exclusively a Western Australian name.
Species of woollybush include:
- A. acanthophyllus (Prickly Woollybush)
- A. argyreus
Adenanthos argyreus is a species of erect shrub endemic to southwest Western Australia....
(Little Woollybush)
- A. cygnorum
Adenanthos cygnorum, commonly known as common woollybush or just woollybush, is a tall shrub in the Proteaceae family. It is endemic to Western Australia, commonly occurring in the south west of the State from north of Geraldton south to Kojonup...
(Woollybush, Common Woollybush)
- A. dobagii
Adenanthos dobagii, commonly known as Fitzgerald Woollybush, is a shrub in the family Proteaceae. It grows to a mere 50 cm high, with crowded small silvery leaves and insignificant pink or cream flowers...
(Fitzgerald Woollybush)
- A. labillardierei
Adenanthos labillardierei is a species of erect shrub endemic to the slopes of the Barren Ranges in the Fitzgerald River National Park in southwest Western Australia.-Description:It grows as an erect shrub, usually less than m in height...
- A. macropodianus
Adenanthos macropodianus, commonly known as Gland Flower, or Kangaroo Island Gland Flower, is a species of shrub in the family Proteaceae. It is endemic to Kangaroo Island in South Australia...
(Kangaroo Island Gland Flower)
- A. meisneri
Adenanthos meisneri, commonly known as Prostrate Woollybush, is a species of shrub in the family Proteaceae. It is endemic to the south-west of Western Australia....
(Prostrate Woollybush)
- A. oreophilus
Adenanthos oreophilus, commonly known as Woollybush, is a species of tall shrub endemic to southwest Western Australia. It is closely related to the better known A. sericeus , and was only classified as a species distinct from the latter in 1978 by Irish botanist E...
(Woollybush)
- A. sericeus
Adenanthos sericeus, commonly known as Woolly Bush, is a shrub native to the south coast of Western Australia. It has bright red but small and obscure flowers, and very soft, deeply divided, hairy leaves.-Description:...
(Woollybush, Coastal Woollybush, Tall Woollybush, Albany Woollybush)
- A. terminalis
Adenanthos terminalis, commonly known as Gland Flower, Yellow Gland Flower or Adenanthos, is a one metre tall shrub in the Proteaceae family...
(Yellow Gland Flower)
- A. velutinus (Velvet Woollybush)
- A. × cunninghamii
Adenanthos × cunninghamii, commonly known as Woollybush, Albany Woollybush or Prostrate Woollybush, is a hybrid shrub in the family Proteaceae. It is endemic to the south-west of Western Australia.-Description:...
(Woollybush, Albany Woollybush, Prostrate Woollybush)
Ernest Charles NelsonErnest Charles Nelson is a botanist who specialises in the Proteaceae family, especially the Adenanthos genus; and the Ericaceae, especially Erica. He is the author of over 20 books and more than 150 research papers...
states that the name has been in use for a long time, and believes that it originated in the vicinity of
Albany, Western AustraliaAlbany is a port city in the Great Southern region of Western Australia, some 418 km SE of Perth, the state capital. As of 2009, Albany's population was estimated at 33,600, making it the 6th-largest city in the state....
.