''Grevillea leucoclada'' 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 a small area in the west of
Western Australia
Western Australia (commonly abbreviated as WA) is a state of Australia occupying the western percent of the land area of Australia excluding external territories. It is bounded by the Indian Ocean to the north and west, the Southern Ocean to th ...
. It is a shrub with divided leaves, the lobes further divided, the end lobes linear or tapered, and cone-shaped clusters of white to cream-coloured flowers.
Description
''Grevillea leptopoda'' is a densely-branched 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 ...
, more or less
glabrous branchlets. The leaves are long and divided with three to seven lobes, the lobes further divided into three, the end lobes linear or tapered, long and wide. The flowers are arranged on the ends of branches and in leaf axils in sometimes branched, cone-shaped to cylindrical clusters on a
rachis long. The flowers are white to cream-coloured, 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 August to December and the fruit is a oblong
follicle long.
This grevillea regenerates from seed and is similar to ''
G. intricata'', which does not have glaucous branchlets.
[
]
Taxonomy
''Grevillea leucoclada'' was first formally described in 1986 by Donald McGillivray in his book, ''New Names in Grevillea (Proteaceae)'' from specimens he collected with 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 ...
between the North West Coastal Highway and Kalbarri in 1976.[Backer, C.A. (1936]
''Verklarend woordenboek der wetenschappelijke namen van de in Nederland en Nederlandsch-Indië in het wild groeiende en in tuinen en parken gekweekte varens en hoogere planten'' (Edition Nicoline van der Sijs).
(Explanatory dictionary of the scientific names of .. plants grown in the Netherlands and the Dutch East Indies...)
Distribution and habitat
''Grevillea leucoclada'' grows in shrubland, often in rocky places, in areas around the lower reaches of the Murchison River in the Geraldton Sandplains bioregion in the west of Western Australia.
Conservation status
''Grevillea leucoclada'' is 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 ...
,
See also
* List of Grevillea species
References
{{Taxonbar, from=Q5607958
leucoclada
Proteales of Australia
Flora of Western Australia
Taxa named by Donald McGillivray
Plants described in 1986