''Grevillea costata'' 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 the west of Western Australia. It is a spreading shrub with sharply-pointed, linear leaves and white flowers.
Description
''Grevillea costata'' is a spreading shrub that typically grows to a height of and has many ridged, silky-hairy branchlets. Its leaves are linear, long and wide with the edges rolled under, enclosing all but the mid-vein. The flowers are arranged in groups of four to ten in leaf axils or on the ends of branchlets and are white, the
pistil
Gynoecium (; ) is most commonly used as a collective term for the parts of a flower that produce ovules and ultimately develop into the fruit and seeds. The gynoecium is the innermost whorl of a flower; it consists of (one or more) ''pistils'' ...
long with a white to cream-coloured, sometimes pink
style. Flowering occurs from May to September and the fruit is an elliptic to oblong
follicle long with prominent ridges.
Taxonomy
''Grevillea costata'' was first formally described in 1974 by
Alex George Alexander or Alex George may refer to:
*Alex George (botanist) (born 1939), Australian botanist
* Alexander L. George (1920–2006), American political scientist
* Alexander George (philosopher), American philosopher
*Alex George (motorcyclist), Sc ...
in the journal ''
Nuytsia
''Nuytsia floribunda'' is a hemiparasitic tree found in Western Australia. The species is known locally as moodjar and, more recently, the Christmas tree or Western Australian Christmas tree. The display of intensely bright flowers during the ...
'' from specimens collected by
Charles Gardner near rocks in the
Murchison River in 1931.
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 ...
(''costata'') means "ribbed", referring to the fruit.
Distribution and habitat
This grevillea grows in sand and among rocks in the river bed of the Murchison River in the
Carnarvon,
Geraldton Sandplains and
Yalgoo biogeographic region of Western Australia.
Conservation status
''Grevillea costata'' is listed as
Least Concern
A least-concern species is a species that has been categorized by the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) as evaluated as not being a focus of species conservation because the specific species is still plentiful in the wild. T ...
on the
IUCN Red List of Threatened Species. Although its estimated
extent of occurrence
Extent may refer to:
Computing
* Extent (file systems), a contiguous region of computer storage medium reserved for a file
* Extent File System, a discontinued file system implementation named after the contiguous region
* Extent, a chunk of st ...
is relatively small at 6000km², its population is stable and faces no known major threats. Most of this species' range occurs in the protected area of
Kalbarri National Park
Kalbarri National Park is located north of Perth, in the Mid West region of Western Australia.
The major geographical features of the park include the Murchison River gorge which runs for nearly on the lower reaches of the Murchison River. Sp ...
.
It is also listed as "
Priority Three" 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 ...
,
meaning that it is poorly known and known from only a few locations but is not under imminent threat.
See also
*
List of Grevillea species
References
{{Taxonbar, from=Q15578066
costata
Proteales of Australia
Eudicots of Western Australia
Plants described in 1974
Taxa named by Alex George