Drumsticks and conesticks are the common names for two groups of plants from the proteaceae family of plants – the one which includes hakeas, banksias, persoonias, and grevilleas.
They can be a bit confusing because real drumsticks (the ones you play drums with) can have either a round end or a more conical one. The way to remember which plant is which, is that a conestick fruit is always conical, therefore the plants known as drumsticks must have round ones.
Conestick Drumstick
Petrophile pulchella fruits Isopogon anemonifolia fruits
The most common conestick in the Sydney region is called Petrophile pulchella. Petrophile means rock-loving and refers to the fact that they like to grow on stony, skeletal soils (which are usually found near the tops of ridges); pulchella means pretty girl. It has leaves that have been reduced to just the leaf veins. This is an adaptation to avoid water loss through transpiration.
Petrophile pulchella foliage
Petrophile pulchella flowers are a creamy yellow colour.
The most common drumstick in our region is Isopogon anemonifolius. Iso means same and pogon means beard, and refers to the flower remnants on the fruits being all the same length, looking like a trimmed beard. Anemonifolius means the leaves (foliage) look like that of the anemone plant. These leaves are reduced to just a narrow, flat band of leaf remaining around each leaf vein and do look quite like an anemone.
Isopogon anemonifolius foliage
Isopogon anemonifolius flowers are a bright yellow colour.
Isopogon anemonifolius flower
Just to confuse us… there is also a local species of drumstick with foliage that looks just like the conestick. It is called Isopogon anethifolius. So be careful to look at both the fruits and the leaves before identifying the plant!
Isopogon anethifolius foliage and flower bud
There are a few other species of both Isopogons and Petrophiles in the region, but these are the most commonly seen. If in doubt stick to the common names of drumstick or conestick!
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