Conostephium minus, common name pink-tipped pearl flower, is a species of flowering plant in the family Ericaceae[2] and is endemic to the southwest of Western Australia. It is an erect shrub with linear leaves and white and purplish-pink flowers.
Conostephium minus is an erect shrub that typically grows to a height of 15–75 cm (5.9–29.5 in). Its leaves are linear, 13–19 mm (0.51–0.75 in) long with the edges rolled under and a small point on the tip. The flowers are about 8.5 mm (0.33 in) long, each flower on a peduncle about 2 mm (0.079 in) long with several bracts and bracteoles almost as long as the sepals. The sepals are white, the longest ones 5.6–7.2 mm (0.22–0.28 in) long and the petals purplish-pink and joined at the base with lobes 0.3–1 mm (0.012–0.039 in) long. The upper half of the ovary is softly-hairy, the stamens attached near the middle of the petal tube. Flowering occurs from August to October.[2][3][4]
This species is similar to C. magnum, but that species has longer sepals and longer petal lobes.[3]
Conostephium minus was first formally described and named by John Lindley in 1839 in A Sketch of the Vegetation of the Swan River Colony.[5][6] The specific epithet, minus, is a Latin adjective meaning "small".[7]
Pink-tipped pearl flower grows on undulating sandplains on white/grey or yellow sands, between Regans Ford and Serpentine with an outlier near Collie, in the Geraldton Sandplains, Jarrah Forest and Swan Coastal Plain bioregions of south-western Western Australia.[2][3]
This species is listed as "not threatened" by the Government of Western Australia Department of Biodiversity, Conservation and Attractions.[2]
Habit near Cataby Conostephium minus, common name pink-tipped pearl flower, is a species of flowering plant in the family Ericaceae and is endemic to the southwest of Western Australia. It is an erect shrub with linear leaves and white and purplish-pink flowers.
