Conostylis Genus

Conostylis is a genus of perennial herbs in the family Haemodoraceae, commonly known as cone flowers or cottonheads. All of its roughly 80 species are endemic to the southwest of Western Australia, where the genus is the most species-rich in Haemodoraceae and one of only six genera confined to the Southwest Australia bioregion. Conostylis is closely related to the well-known kangaroo paws, the genera Anigozanthos and Macropidia.

Plants form clumps of leathery, strap-like leaves that arise from the base of the plant, sometimes from underground rhizomes. Flowers are typically borne in clusters, though occasionally singly, on stalks that emerge from among the leaf bases. Each flower has a short stalk and six tepals — cream, yellow, orange or purple — that join at the base into a short tube, with six stamens attached near the top of that tube.

The genus was described by the Scottish botanist Robert Brown, who published it in his 1810 work Prodromus Florae Novae Hollandiae ("Prodromus of the Flora of New Holland"), though he did not designate a type species. Its name comes from Ancient Greek roots meaning "cone" and "column" or "style", referring to the conical tip of the flower's style. GBIF places the genus within the order Commelinales and records around 80 accepted taxa beneath it.