''Grevillea erinacea'' 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 south-west of Western Australia. It is a spreading shrub with deeply-divided leaves with three to five linear lobes, rotated through 90°, and cream-coloured flowers with a white
style.
Description
''Grevillea erinacea'' is a spreading shrub that typically grows to a height of , its branchlets covered with woolly to more or less silky hairs. Its leaves are rotated through 90°, long and deeply divided with three to five sharply pointed lobes long and wide. The flowers are arranged in more or less spherical to dome-shaped groups along a woolly-hairy
rachis. The flowers are greenish in bud, later cream-coloured and silky hairy, 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 style. Flowering occurs from July to December, but mainly from July to October and the fruit is a mostly smooth, oblong to oval
follicle long.
Taxonomy
''Grevillea erinacea'' was first formally described in 1855 by
Carl Meissner in
Hooker's ''
Journal of Botany and Kew Garden Miscellany'' based on material collected by
James Drummond.
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 ...
(''erinacea'') means "hedgehog", referring to the prickly leaves.
Distribution and habitat
This grevillea grows in heath and shrubland in the area between
Ellendale,
Three Springs and
Arrowsmith in the
Avon Wheatbelt and
Geraldton Sandplains biogeographic regions of south-western Western Australia.
Conservation status
''Grevillea erinacea'' is listed as
Vulnerable on the
IUCN Red List of Threatened Species. This is due to its limited distribution, with an 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 ...
of , its severely fragmented range due to habitat clearing from road development and agriculture, and the continuing decline of habitat quality. The species is currently threatened by competition with weeds and clearance of roadside verges where it occurs. Die-back disease (caused by ''
Phytophtora'' pathogens) is present within the southern half of this species' range, though it is unknown if it is susceptible.
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=Q15579189
erinacea
''Erinacea'' is a small genus of flowering plants in the family
Family (from la, familia) is a group of people related either by consanguinity (by recognized birth) or affinity (by marriage or other relationship). The purpose of the famil ...
Endemic flora of Western Australia
Eudicots of Western Australia
Proteales of Australia
Taxa named by Carl Meissner
Plants described in 1855