''Grevillea annulifera'', also known as prickly plume grevillea, is a species of flowering plant in the family

Proteaceae The Proteaceae form a family of flowering plants predominantly distributed in the Southern Hemisphere. The family comprises 83 genera with about 1,660 known species. Together with the Platanaceae and Nelumbonaceae, they make up the order Pro ...

and is

endemic Endemism is the state of a species being found in a single defined geographic location, such as an island, state, nation, country or other defined zone; organisms that are indigenous to a place are not endemic to it if they are also found elsew ...

to northern Western Australia. It is a spreading to erect shrub with

pinnatisect The following is a list of terms which are used to describe leaf morphology in the description and taxonomy of plants. Leaves may be simple (a single leaf blade or lamina) or compound (with several leaflets). The edge of the leaf may be regular o ...

leaves with five to nine sharply-pointed, linear lobes, and cream-coloured to pale yellow flowers.

Description

''Grevillea annulifera'' is a more or less glabrous, spreading to erect shrub that typically grows to a height of and has

glaucous ''Glaucous'' (, ) is used to describe the pale grey or bluish-green appearance of the surfaces of some plants, as well as in the names of birds, such as the glaucous gull (''Larus hyperboreus''), glaucous-winged gull (''Larus glaucescens''), g ...

branchlets. The leaves are pinnatisect with five to nine, more or less spreading linear, sharply-pointed lobes long and wide with the edges rolled under. The flowers are arranged in cylindrical

panicle A panicle is a much-branched inflorescence. (softcover ). Some authors distinguish it from a compound spike inflorescence, by requiring that the flowers (and fruit) be pedicellate (having a single stem per flower). The branches of a panicle are of ...

s on the ends of branches on a rachis long. The flowers are cream-coloured to pale yellow, the pistil long. Flowering occurs from June to October and the fruit is a more or less spherical follicle long.

Taxonomy

''Grevillea annulifera'' was first formally described in 1864 by botanist

Ferdinand von Mueller Baron Sir Ferdinand Jacob Heinrich von Mueller, (german: Müller; 30 June 1825 – 10 October 1896) was a German-Australian physician, geographer, and most notably, a botanist. He was appointed government botanist for the then colony of Vict ...

in his '' Fragmenta Phytographiae Australiae'', based on plant material collected near the Murchison River by

Augustus Oldfield Augustus Frederick Oldfield (1821–1887) was an English botanist and zoologist who made large collections of plant specimens in Australia. Oldfield was born on 12 January 1821 in London, England. He made botanical collections in Tasmania, the coa ...

. The

specific epithet In taxonomy, binomial nomenclature ("two-term naming system"), also called nomenclature ("two-name naming system") or binary nomenclature, is a formal system of naming species of living things by giving each a name composed of two parts, bot ...

(''annulifera'') means "ring-bearing", referring to the shape of a

gland In animals, a gland is a group of cells in an animal's body that synthesizes substances (such as hormones) for release into the bloodstream (endocrine gland) or into cavities inside the body or its outer surface (exocrine gland). Structure De ...

at the base of the style.

Distribution and habitat

Prickly plume grevillea grows in sandy soil in heath and mallee shrubland near the lower reaches of the Murchison River in the

Gascoyne The Gascoyne region is one of the nine administrative regions of Western Australia. It is located in the northwest of Western Australia, and consists of the local government areas of Carnarvon, Exmouth, Shark Bay and Upper Gascoyne. The Gasc ...

region from around

Shark Bay Shark Bay (Malgana: ''Gathaagudu'', "two waters") is a World Heritage Site in the Gascoyne region of Western Australia. The http://www.environment.gov.au/heritage/places/world/shark-bay area is located approximately north of Perth, on the ...

in the north down to around Chapman Valley in the south, in the Geraldton Sandplains and Yalgoo biogeographic regions of Western Australia.

Conservation status

This grevillea is listed as "Least Concern" on the IUCN Red List of Threatened Species. It is relatively common within its range and its population is likely stable. There are no known threats to this species, either current or in the immediate future. It is also listed as "not threatened" by the Government of Western Australia

Department of Biodiversity, Conservation and Attractions The Department of Biodiversity, Conservation and Attractions (DBCA) is the Western Australian government The Government of Western Australia, formally referred to as His Majesty's Government of Western Australia, is the Australian state de ...

References

{{Taxonbar, from=Q3009429 annulifera Endemic flora of Western Australia Eudicots of Western Australia Proteales of Australia Taxa named by Ferdinand von Mueller Plants described in 1864