Synaphea rangiferops is a species of flowering plant in the family Proteaceae and is endemic to the south west of Western Australia. It is a shrub with lobed pinnatipartite leaves the lower leaves also lobed, and spikes of yellow flowers.
Description Synaphea rangiferops is a shrub with shaggy hairs and branched stems up to long. The leaves are pinnatipartite, long and wide on a petiole long, the lower two or three pairs of lobes, with one or two parts. The end lobes are linear to narrowly triangular, wide. The flowers are yellow and borne in spikes up to long on a branched, sparsely hairy peduncle long. The bracts are egg-shaped and spreading, long and mostly glabrous. The perianth has a moderately wide opening, the upper tepal long and wide and strongly curved, the lower tepal long. The stigma is oblong and shallowly notched, long and wide, mostly glabrous and the ovary is also mostly glabrous. Flowering occurs in August and September, and the fruit is elliptic, long and covered with soft hairs.
Taxonomy Synaphea rangiferops was first formally described in 1995 by Alex George in the Flora of Australia from specimens he found south-west of Calingiri in 1976. The specific epithet (rangiferops) means reindeer- or caribou-like, and refers to the leaf lobes that reminiscent of their antlers.
Distribution and habitat This species of synaphea occurs between Mogumber, Gillingarra and Calingiri where it grows in gravelly loam in kwongan
Conservation status Synaphea rangiferops is listed as "Priority Two" by the Government of Western Australia Department of Biodiversity, Conservation and Attractions, meaning that it is poorly known and from one or a few locations.
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