Ptilotus fusiformis, commonly known as skeleton plant or pom-pom bottlebrush, is a species of flowering plant in the family Amaranthaceae and is endemic to northern Australia. It is an erect to spreading annual or perennial herb, with linear leaves and cylindrical green or yellow spikes of densely arranged flowers.
Ptilotus fusiformis is an erect or spreading annual or perennial herb that typically grows to a height of up to . Its leaves are linear, mostly long and wide. The flowers are usually arranged in solitary cylindrical spikes long and wide on a long, slender pedicel, with transparent, straw-coloured, , egg-shaped bracts and bracteoles about long. The tepals are linear, long, greenish yellow and covered with long divided hairs. The style is long fixed to the side of the ovary. Flowering occurs from January to November and the seeds are long.
This species was first formally described in 1810 by Robert Brown who gave it the name Trichinium fusiforme in his Prodromus Florae Novae Hollandiae et Insulae Van Diemen. In 1816, Poiret transferred the species to Ptilotus as P. fusiformis in a supplement to the Encyclopédie Méthodique. The specific epithet (fusiformis) means 'spindle-shaped', referring to the root.
Ptilotus fusiformis occurs across northern Australia and is widespread in northern Western Australia, the Northern Territory, and to around Collinsville in Queensland and grows in a wide range of sites in sandy or loamy soils.
This species of Ptilotus is listed as "not threatened" by the Government of Western Australia Department of Biodiversity, Conservation and Attractions, and as of "least concern" under the Territory Parks and Wildlife Conservation Act and the Queensland Government Nature Conservation Act 1992.