Isopogon petiolaris

Isopogon petiolaris is a low mounded ground cover usually less than 1 metre high by about 1 metre across. It can form a groundcovering shrub.

It is an inland species in NSW, growing mostly on the western slopes, north from around Orange, northwards through areas such as Dubbo and Coonabarabran to Narrabri. It is also found west of Armidale and around Inverell and northwards of Coffs Harbour on the coast. It only just extends into Queensland, growing around Stanthorpe and Inglewood and further east near Dayboro.

It is found in dry sclerophyll woodland and forest as well as heathland, usually on sandy and stony/rocky soils.

Isopogon spp. have leaves appearing simple, or heavily dissected into segments (appearing compound), arranged alternately. In this species, leaves are light to mid green and up to 14 cm long, with the undivided petiole (or leaf stalk) to 9 cm long and the heavily dissected part to 5 cm long by 5 cm wide, with pointy terminals.

The inflorescences of Isopogon are typically globe-shaped (globular) terminal heads, consisting of many bright yellow flowers occur in late spring and early summer. The flower clusters are around 35 mm in diameter, conspicuously displayed on the ends of the branches. Being a Proteaceae genus, the flowers are similar to that of other genera with flowers having 4 tepals, 4 stamens and 1 carpel. Each head might have 50 – 100 flowers, occurring from spring to summer. In this species, the heads are yellow and terminals, around 30 mm across, profuse and conspicuous.

The fruiting body is a spherical (barrel-shaped) woody cluster (“cone”), 10 to 16 mm in diameter which consists of individual nuts. The nuts are covered in white hairs and are about 2 to 3 mm long. They can remain on the plant for an indefinite period.