Synaphea is a genus of small shrubs and is endemic to Western Australia. Synapheas have variably shaped leaves but consistently yellow flowers with an unusual pollination mechanism.
Description
Plants in the genus Synaphea are small shrubs, usually with deeply lobed (pinnatipartite) leaves, although some have simple leaves, others pinnate leaves, and have a petiole with a sheathing base. The flowers are relatively small, bright yellow, usually unscented, and arranged in a spike in leaf axils or on the ends of branchlets. The perianth is tube-shaped and zygomorphic, the tube opening in the upper third to half. As in many other members of the Proteaceae, the male anthers and female style are initially in contact and the end of the style is a pollen presenter. In synapheas (and in Conospermum), the anthers and stigma are held together under tension and only separate when touched by a pollinator, ejecting the pollen. The fruit is a hard-shelled nut, but in most species seed set is low.[2][3]
^Brown, Robert (1810). "On the Proteaceae of Jussieu". Transactions of the Linnean Society of London. 10 (1): 155–156. Retrieved 7 April 2020.
^Francis Aubie Sharr (2019). Western Australian Plant Names and their Meanings. Kardinya, Western Australia: Four Gables Press. p. 116. ISBN9780958034180.
