Adenanthos obovatus, commonly known as basket flower (which usually refers to Centaurea, though), or, jugflower, is a shrub of the plant family Proteaceae endemic to Southwest Australia.

Made up of single red flowers, the inflorescences appear from April to December, and peak in spring (August to October).

Pollinators include honeyeaters, particularly the western spinebill, which can access the nectar with its long curved bill, and the silvereye, which punctures the flower tube.

The most commonly cultivated Adenanthos species in Australia, it has a long flowering period and attracts honeyeaters to the garden.

The growth habit of Adenanthos obovatus is that of a lignotuberous shrub, with many stems arising from a single underground lignotuber.

The most systematically important properties by which the two may be distinguished are the shape of the perianth limb, which is rounded in A. obovatus and pointed in A. barbiger; the bracts, glabrous versus hirsute; and the style-ends, which are green and scarlet respectively.

[4] The first known botanical specimen collection of A. obovatus was made by Scottish surgeon and naturalist Archibald Menzies during the visit of the Vancouver Expedition to King George Sound in September and October 1791.

[8] In his notes on vegetation published in the official account of the expedition, Leschenault writes: Sur les bords de la mer, croissent, en grande abondance, l'adenanthos cuneata, l'adenanthos sericea au feuillage velouté, et une espèce du même genre dont les feuilles sont arrondies.

[10] A description of the species was published by Jacques Labillardière in his 1805 Novae Hollandiae Plantarum Specimen,[2] accompanied by a figure drawn by Pierre Antoine Poiteau and engraved by Auguste Plée.

[11] Labillardière chose the specific name obovata, in reference to the leaves of his specimen, which were obovate (egg-shaped, with the narrow end at the base).

[5] Ernest Charles Nelson states with certainty that Labillardière based this species on specimens collected by Leschenault,[16] and this view has been accepted by some scholars[17] though others treat it more cautiously.

[24] It is also possible that A. obovatus infrequently hybridises with A. barbiger: in 1921, Carl Hansen Ostenfeld described A. intermedia (now A. intermedius), based on specimens found near Ngilgi Cave at Yallingup with leaf shape intermediate between these two species.

[26][27] Recently, however, a specimen collected by Greg Keighery was held to represent a new species, provisionally named "A. barbiger subsp.

It is also one of the few Adenanthos species to grow well in moist environments; it will not tolerate seasonal waterlogging—that niche is filled by A. detmoldii—but thrives in damp soils not subject to waterlogging.

[1][31] Nelson tentatively explains these disjunct populations in terms of natural climate fluctuations: during times of higher rainfall, the distribution of A. obovatus would have been much more extensive.

Their long curved bills fit the tube-like flowers exactly, so that the pollen-presenter brushes against the spinebill's head while it is probing for nectar.

Larger honeyeaters in one field study tended to avoid A. obovatus, possibly seeking sources of more abundant nectar elsewhere.

[33] Adenanthos obovatus has been recorded as a source of nectar for the honey possum (Tarsipes rostratus) in winter and spring (early June to September), from field studies in the Scott National Park, replaced by A. meisneri in late spring and summer (late October to February).

[14][38] Wildflowers of this species are harvested by licensed pickers in the cut flower industry, for sale in both local and export markets.