Cooloomia feather flower or Verticordia cooloomia

Flowering now in the WA Botanic Garden, Verticordia cooloomia is a striking shrub with dense heads of bright yellow cup-shaped flowers carried on top of slender shoots up to 1.5 metres tall.

It is a spectacular member of the genus Verticordia, a group of around 100 species that are unique to Western Australia, apart from three tropical species also found in the Northern Territory.

Species of Verticordia are generally known as featherflowers, because their flowers have fringed petals and/or sepals, often giving them a fluffy, feathery appearance. In Verticordia cooloomia, the outermost flower parts (the sepals) are lightly fringed. 

Verticordia cooloomia is relatively new to science. It was first collected in 1979 at Cooloomia Nature Reserve some 650 km north of Perth and was formally named in 1991. Because it has been recorded at only a few locations and its full extent is poorly known, it is classed as a Priority Three species, considered to be at high risk of extinction. Kings Park plays an important role in the conservation of this species.

Verticordia cooloomia is easily recognised by its bright flowers, its tall slender-flowering stems, and the way its leaf shape changes up the stem from long and narrow at the base, to small and nearly circular beneath the flowers. You can find it in several areas of the WA Botanic Garden including the Mound, the Southwest Garden, the Conservation Garden and Roe Gardens. It also grows in the Verticordia Garden on the river side of Gija Jumula, the giant Kimberley Boab, along with many other species of Verticordia.

The friendly Guides in the Visitor Information Centre (VIC) will help you find these beds, and can also point out the Verticordia cooloomia plants in the bed immediately below the VIC.