Dryandra nivea: is a member of the Proteaceae family and is known as the Couch Honeypot.
Dryandra nivea is a variable shrub that may be prostrate with short stems or a short-branched mounded shrub that will reach a height of 40 centimetres. In the future different forms may be given species status.
The leaves vary in length from 7 centimetres to 30 centimetres. They are linear in shape with triangular, toothed margins. Leaf colour is usually bright green on top and white underneath.
Flower heads vary in colour from cream through orange to dull brown. Bracts are usually brown. Flowers appear from winter to spring. Flower heads are 40 millimetres in diameter. Individual flowers are arranged in a ring with a hole in the middle. The hole is thought to allow small animals, such as Pygmy Possums, to reach the nectar at the base of the blooms. The specimen illustrated is growing in one of our gardens. This is a mounded plant and the flowers are concealed at the base of the foliage. This is our first Dryandra at Yallaroo but it will not be our last. Many years ago we had a beautiful Dryandra formosa growing in a garden in the Blue Mountains, west of Sydney.
All forms, of Dryandra nivea, could be cultivated in rockeries and native cottage gardens.
Dryandra nivea is a native of Western Australia as are all the other 70 or so species.
This species was the first Dryandra collected and was originally described as a Banksia. Dryandra nivea was one of the first Australian plants introduced into the United Kingdom and flowered there in 1810.
Propagate from seed and possibly cuttings.

Plants