Adenanthos species (Proteaceae) in phosphorus-impoverished environments use a variety of phosphorus-acquisition strategies and achieve high-phosphorus-use efficiency.

Adenanthos is the first genus of Proteaceae found to express multiple P-acquisition strategies. The diversity of P-acquisition strategies in these Proteaceae, coupled with similarly diverse strategies in Fabaceae and Myrtaceae, demonstrates that caution is needed in making family- or genus-wide extrapolations about the strategies exhibited in severely P-impoverished megadiverse ecosystems.