Grevillea coccinea explained

Grevillea coccinea is a species of flowering plant in the family Proteaceae and is endemic to the south of Western Australia. It is a low-lying or sprawling shrub with narrowly wedge-shaped to linear leaves and white, cream-coloured, and red or yellow flowers.

Description

Grevillea coccinea is a low-lying or prostrate shrub that typically grows to a height of . Its leaves are narrowly wedge-shaped to linear, long and wide. The edges of the leaves are rolled under, obscuring all but the lower mid-vein, and the tips are usually sharply-pointed. The flowers are arranged in groups in leaf axils on a rachis long and are white, cream-coloured, and red or yellow, the pistil long with a glabrous style. Flowering occurs from March to December and the fruit is a silky-hairy follicle long.[1]

Taxonomy

Grevillea coccinea was first formally described in 1855 by Carl Meissner in Hooker's Journal of Botany and Kew Garden Miscellany.[2] [3] The specific epithet (coccinea) means "scarlet".[4]

In 1993, Peter M. Olde and Neil R. Marriott described two subspecies in the journal Nuytsia and the names are accepted by the Australian Plant Census:

Distribution and habitat

This grevillea grows in shrub or heath and is found in southern Western Australia from Mount Manypeaks to near Hopetoun in the Esperance Plains and Mallee biogeographic regions of Western Australia. Subspecies lanata is confined to the Fitzgerald River National Park.

Conservation status

This grevillea is listed as "not threatened" by the Department of Biodiversity, Conservation and Attractions, and as Least Concern on the IUCN Red List of Threatened Species.[8]

Subspecies lanata is listed as "Priority Three" by the Government of Western Australia Department of Biodiversity, Conservation and Attractions, meaning that it is poorly known and known from only a few locations but is not under imminent threat.[9]

See also

Notes and References

  1. Web site: Grevillea coccinea . Australian Biological Resources Study, Department of Agriculture, Water and the Environment: Canberra . 28 February 2022.
  2. Web site: Grevillea coccinea. APNI. 28 February 2022.
  3. Meissner . Carl . New Proteaceae of Australia . Hooker's Journal of Botany and Kew Garden Miscellany . 1855 . 7 . 76 . 30 November 2021.
  4. Book: Sharr . Francis Aubi . George . Alex . Western Australian Plant Names and Their Meanings . 2019 . Four Gables Press . Kardinya, WA . 9780958034180 . 166 . 3rd.
  5. Web site: Grevillea coccinea subsp. coccinea. Australian Plant Census. 28 February 2022.
  6. Olde . Peter M. . Marriott . Neil R. . New species and taxonomic changes in Grevillea (Proteaceae: Grevilleoideae) from south-west Western Australia . Nuytsia . 1993 . 9 . 2 . 276–277 . 1 March 2022.
  7. Web site: Grevillea coccinea subsp. lanata. Australian Plant Census. 28 February 2022.
  8. Keighery, G. . Olde, P. . 2020 . Grevillea coccinea . 2020 . e.T112650591A113307806 . 10.2305/IUCN.UK.2020-2.RLTS.T112650591A113307806.en . 27 December 2023.
  9. Web site: Conservation codes for Western Australian Flora and Fauna. Government of Western Australia Department of Parks and Wildlife. 1 March 2022.