''Grevillea formosa'', also known as the Mount Brockman 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 to

Arnhem Land Arnhem Land is a historical region of the Northern Territory of Australia, with the term still in use. It is located in the north-eastern corner of the territory and is around from the territory capital, Darwin. In 1623, Dutch East India Compan ...

in the Northern Territory. It is a prostrate to sprawling shrub with deeply divided leaves, the lobes sometimes further divided, the end leaflets linear, and green flowers that turn bright golden-yellow.

Description

''Grevillea formosa'' is a sprawling shrub that typically grows to a height of up to , with trailing branches up to long. Its leaves are divided, long with 5 to 26 erect, linear leaflets, sometimes further divided, the end lobes long and wide. The edges of the leaflets are rolled under, but are not sharply-pointed. The flowers are arranged in toothbrush-like clusters along a rachis long. The flowers are green, turning bright golden-yellow as they age, 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. Flowering occurs from January to March and the fruit is a shaggy-hairy follicle long.

Taxonomy

''Grevillea formosa'' was first formally described in 1986 by Donald McGillivray in his book ''New Names in Grevillea (Proteaceae)'', based on specimens collected in 1973. 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 ...

(''formosa'') means "beautifully-formed".

Distribution and habitat

This grevillea grows in rocky places in the Pine Creek and Arnhem Plateau bioregions of western Arnhem Land.

Conservation status

''Grevillea formosa'' is listed as Least Concern on the

IUCN Red List of Threatened Species The International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) Red List of Threatened Species, also known as the IUCN Red List or Red Data Book, founded in 1964, is the world's most comprehensive inventory of the global conservation status of biologi ...

and under the Northern Territory Government ''

Territory Parks and Wildlife Conservation Act A territory is an area of land, sea, or space, particularly belonging or connected to a country, person, or animal. In international politics, a territory is usually either the total area from which a state may extract power resources or an ...

''. Despite the species' restricted distribution, the population appears stable and there are no major threats affecting it at present or in the near future. No direct conservation measures are required for this species.

References

{{Taxonbar, from=Q5607922

formosa Taiwan, officially the Republic of China (ROC), is an island country located in East Asia. The main island of Taiwan, formerly known in the Western political circles, press and literature as Formosa, makes up 99% of the land area of the territorie ...

Proteales of Australia Plants described in 1986 Taxa named by Donald McGillivray