Leionema lachnaeoides

Leionema lachnaeoides is a tall shrub to 2 m (6 ft 7 in) high with white stems covered in fine, smooth, silver star-shaped hairs quickly becoming smooth. The leaves are more or less terete , 0.8 mm (0.031 in) long, 1 mm (0.039 in) wide, arranged alternately along the branches on a flattened petiole, with a slight upward curve and ending in a point. The leaf upper and lower side and edges are smooth, surface leathery, margins rolled under almost obscuring the paler underside. The flowers are borne singly on a short peduncle about 1.5 mm (0.059 in) long in upper leaf axils and covered in soft star-shaped hairs. The pedicel is fleshy and about 2 mm (0.079 in) long with 4 tiny bracts at the base. The green calyx lobes are triangular-shaped, about 0.5 mm (0.020 in) long and smooth. The spreading, five yellow flower petals are narrowly oval shaped, about 5 mm (0.20 in) long, smooth and dotted with glands. The 5 prominent, yellow stamens only slightly longer than the petals. The dry fruit are rounded with a distinctive 2–3 mm (0.079–0.118 in) long beak and the seed is dispersed on maturity in early summer. Flowering occurs between winter and late spring.[2][3][4][5]

This species was described in 1825 by Allan Cunningham,[6][7] but the name was changed to Leionema lachnaeoides in 1998 by Paul G. Wilson and the description was published in the journal Nuytsia.[8][9] The specific epithet (lachnaeoides) is from the Greek lachne- meaning "soft wool" and -oides meaning "resembling" a reference to the hairiness of the species.[5]

Leionema lachnaeoides grows on rocky outcrops, among heath and scrubland west of Katoomba in the Blue Mountain and from Shipley Plateau, Blackheath.[4][5]

This species is classified as "endangered" under the Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation Act 1999 due to factors including weed invasion, altered drainage and fire regimes.[3]