About Petrophile sessilis Sieber ex Schult.
Petrophile sessilis Sieber ex Schult. is an erect shrub that typically reaches a height of 3 meters (9.8 feet). When young, its branchlets and leaves are covered in silky hairs, becoming hairless (glabrous) as they mature. Its leaves range from 30 to 100 millimeters (1.2 to 3.9 inches) long, and are divided into rigid, sharply pointed, needle-shaped pinnae that are usually less than 10 millimeters (0.39 inches) long. Flowers are arranged at the ends of branchlets and in leaf axils, forming spike-like oval flower heads 20 to 25 millimeters (0.79 to 0.98 inches) long, with broadly egg-shaped involucral bracts at the base of each head. The individual flowers are 10 to 14 millimeters (0.39 to 0.55 inches) long, covered in silky hairs, and creamy-yellow in color. Flowering occurs mainly from May to February. The fruit is a nut, and multiple nuts fuse together into an oval head up to 35 millimeters (1.4 inches) long. This species can be told apart from the closely related Petrophile pulchella by its finely hairy new growth. Petrophile sessilis grows on sandstone soils in heath, woodland, and forest habitats, ranging from the Central Coast to the Central and Southern Tablelands of New South Wales.
