is an oval or almost globe-shaped nut. Most species have very limited ecological ranges and distribution areas, and many are rare or endangered. The often attractive, large flower heads and evergreen foliage, the straight stems, combined with long flowering period makes that Leucospermum species and their hybrids are bred as garden ornamental and cut flower. Description Most pincushions are upright shrubs or even small trees of high, that usually have a single main stem. Some species however only have trailing branches and can form low mats, in diameter. Yet another set of species grow several stems directly from a rootstock in the ground. This is an important character in distinguishing between some species. Dried specimens of L. pedunculatum and L. prostratum can be difficult to distinguish, but although both are prostrate species, the growth habits in the field differ considerably. In L. pedunculatum many horizontally spreading branches develop from an about main stem, in L. prostratum the branches rise from an underground woody rootstock. The leaves are alternately set along the stem, distanced and slightly pointing towards the tip of the branch or overlapping, mostly without, sometimes with a leaf stalk but always without stipules at their base, 1½–14 cm (0.6–5.6 in) long and linear, elliptic, oblanceolate, oval, inverted egg-shaped or spade-shaped, the edge entire or with up to 17 teeth towards the tip, hairless or with a covering of soft cringy one-celled hairs, sometime interspersed with longer straight silky hairs. The flower heads are seated or have a short stalk, and grow individually in species with large heads or with two to ten together in species with smaller heads, in the axils of the leaves near the end of the branches. The general shape of the heads is a flattened, round, egg- or cone-shaped sphere of in diameter. The position not at the very tip of the branches helps to distinguish Leucospermum from related genera such as Diastella, while the more than one head per branch helps to distinguish the sections Diastelloides and Hamatum from the other sections. The involucral bracts are green in fresh specimens, and inconspicuous. They may have different shapes such as linear or ovate, with a sharp or pointed tip. In the majority of the species the involucral bracts have tough rubbery consistency and are usually softly hairy, overlapping and tightly pressed against the flower head. L. parile, L. tottum and L. vestitum on the