Grevillea parvula explained

Grevillea parvula , commonly known as Genoa grevillea,[1] is a species of flowering plant in the family Proteaceae and is endemic to an area near the border between New South Wales and Victoria in south-eastern continental Australia. It is a spreading to erect shrub, usually with elliptic leaves, and down-turned clusters of pinkish to red flowers.

Description

Grevillea parvula is a spreading, sometimes compact shrub that typically grows to a height of and has woolly- to shaggy-hairy branchlets. Its leaves are usually ellicptic or narrowly elliptic, sometimes lance-shaped or narrowly egg-shaped with the narrower end towards the base, mostly long and wide. The edges of the leaves are turned down, the upper surface of the leaves smooth, the lower surface densely silky-hairy. The flowers are arranged on the ends of branches or in leaf axils in down-turned clusters of 8 to 36 flowers, on a rachis long. The flowers are pinkish to red, the style red or reddish-pink, and the pistil is long. Flowering mainly occurs from October to March and the fruit is a glabrous follicle long.[2] [3] [4]

Taxonomy

This taxon was first formally described in 1870 as Grevillea victoriae var. leptoneura by English botanist George Bentham in the fifth volume of Flora Australiensis from specimens collected by Ferdinand von Mueller near the headwaters of the Genoa River.[5] [6] In 2000, Bill Molyneux and Val Stajsic raised the variety to species status as Grevillea parvula in the Flora of Australia.[7] The specific epithet (parvula) is the diminutive form of the Latin word parvus meaning "small", referring to the size of the leaves, flowers and follicles which are smaller than those of closely related grevilleas.[8]

Distribution and habitat

Grevillea parvula usually grows in forest near watercourses, sometimes in woodland, from sea level to an altitude of over . It is found between Eden and the Main Range and near the Wallagaraugh and Towamba Rivers in the far south-east of New South Wales and in the far east of Victoria.

Conservation status

This species is listed as "endangered" under the Victorian Government Flora and Fauna Guarantee Act 1988 and as "Rare in Victoria" on the Department of Sustainability and Environment's Advisory List of Rare Or Threatened Plants In Victoria.[9]

Use in horticulture

The cultivar Grevillea 'Canterbury Gold' is a hybrid between a prostrate yellow form of Grevillea juniperina and this species.[10]

Notes and References

  1. Web site: Wood . Betty . Grevillea parvula . Lucid Keys . 9 August 2022.
  2. Web site: Grevillea parvula . Australian Biological Resources Study, Department of Agriculture, Water and the Environment: Canberra . 10 August 2022.
  3. Web site: Makinson . Robert O. . Grevillea parvula . Royal Botanic Garden Sydney . 10 August 2022.
  4. Web site: Stajsic . Val . Grevillea parvula . Royal Botanic Gardens Victoria . 10 August 2022.
  5. Web site: Grevillea victoriae var. leptoneura. APNI. 10 August 2022.
  6. Book: Bentham . George . von Mueller . Ferdinand . Flora Australiensis . 5 . 1870 . Victorian Government Printer . Melbourne . 468 . 10 August 2022.
  7. Web site: Grevillea parvula. APNI. 10 August 2022.
  8. Book: Makinson . Robert O. . Wilson . Annette J.G. . Flora of Australia . 17A . 2000 . Australian Biological Resources Study . Canberra . 502 . 10 August 2022.
  9. Web site: Advisory list of rare or threatened plants in Victoria - 2014 . 26 . Victorian Government Department of Environment and Primary Industries . 10 August 2022.
  10. Web site: Grevillea 'Canterbury Gold'. List of Registered Cultivars derived from Australian native flora . Australian Cultivar Registration Authority. 1 February 2013.