Leucadendron xanthoconus

Leucadendron xanthoconus, the sickle-leaf conebush or in Afrikaans the blinkblaartolbos, is a shrub of up to 2 m with attractive silvery foliage. It grows from a single stem, i.e. it will reseed after fire, not resprout.

The leaves are dense upon the many erect, reddish branchlets, here lacking the yellow colouring of involucral leaves at stem tips when the cones form. The leaves are narrow and oblong, sometimes sickle-shaped and finely hairy only when young.

The cones appear at the end of winter with long yellow leaves around the base of each. Male and female cones of about 1 cm in diameter grow on separate plants. The female cones are light green, but may later turn pinkish or orange-pink. The seed, growing in the female cones, are retained and only released through fire.

The species distribution is in the south of the Western Cape, from the Peninsula to around Riviersonderend.

The habitat is lower sandstone slopes and flats in fynbos. The species is not considered threatened in habitat early in the twenty first century.

This hardy shrub is still underutilised in gardens, deserving a bigger representation (Manning, 2009; www.plantzafrica.com; www.bokkemanskloof.co.za; www.redlist.sanbi.org).