''Grevillea longifolia'', commonly known as fern-leaf spider flower, 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 the

Sydney Basin The Sydney Basin is an interim Australian bioregion and is both a structural entity and a depositional area, now preserved on the east coast of New South Wales, Australia and with some of its eastern side now subsided beneath the Tasman Sea. ...

in New South Wales. It is an erect to spreading shrub with narrowly egg-shaped to almost linear leaves, and toothbrush-like groups of pinkish-fawn flowers with a pink to red style. It is fairly readily grown in gardens.

Description

''Grevillea longifolia'' is an erect to spreading shrub that typically grows to a height of . Its leaves are narrowly egg-shaped to narrowly elliptic or linear, long and wide, usually with coarsely toothed edges or sometimes pinnatifid. The lower surface of the leaves is covered with silky hairs and, when present, the teeth are long. The flowers are arranged in toothbrush-like groups on a rachis long and are pinkish-fawn with a pink to red style, 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 July to January, peaking in September, and the fruit is a silky-hairy follicle long.

Taxonomy

''Grevillea longifolia'' was first formally described in 1830 by Robert Brown in his ''

Supplementum primum Prodromi florae Novae Hollandiae ''Supplementum primum Prodromi florae Novae Hollandiae'' ("First supplement to the Prodromus of the flora of New Holland") is an 1830 supplement to Robert Brown's ''Prodromus florae Novae Hollandiae et Insulae Van Diemen''. It may be referred to ...

'', from specimens collected by George Caley near Port Jackson in July 1807. 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 ...

(''longifolia'') means "long-leaved".

Distribution and habitat

''Grevillea longifolia'' is restricted to the Sydney Basin, particularly the southern areas and Woronora Plateau. It is found in the Heathcote and Royal National Parks, but has vanished from the Burwood and Carlton districts where it once grew. It grows on Hawkesbury Sandstone and yellow clay soils, often along riverbanks and streams. It grows in shaded or part-shaded situations in woodland or forest, under such trees as blue leaved stringybark ('' Eucalyptus agglomerata''), Sydney peppermint ('' E. piperita''), stringybark ('' E. oblonga''), smooth-barked apple (''

Angophora costata ''Angophora costata'', commonly known as Sydney red gum, rusty gum or smooth-barked apple, is a species of tree that is endemic to eastern Australia. Reaching in height, the species has distinctive smooth bark that is pinkish or orange-brown wh ...

'') and red bloodwood ('' Corymbia gummifera''), and shrubs such as gymea lily ('' Doryanthes excelsa''), and near creeks with such shrubs as '' Lomatia myricoides'', watergum '' Tristania neriifolia'', kanooka (''

Tristaniopsis laurina ''Tristaniopsis laurina'', the water gum or kanooka, is a tree species native to Australia. It usually grows near the eastern coastline and along the banks of streams, where the trunks and branches tend to be shaped in the direction of the curr ...

'') and trees blackbutt ('' Eucalyptus pilularis'') and coachwood ('' Ceratopetalum apetalum'').

Ecology

This grevillea is killed by fire, but regenerates from seed. The seed are sometimes eaten by insects, or by native mammals such as the bush rat ('' Rattus fuscipes'') and swamp wallaby ('' Wallabia bicolor'').

Use in horticulture

''Grevillea longifolia'' adapts readily to cultivation, and can be propagated vegetatively by cutting as plants have a tendency to hybridise, making seed parentage unclear. It is grown commercially in the south of France for its foliage. It is sometimes sold mistakenly labelled as ''G. aspleniifolia''.

References

{{Taxonbar, from=Q5607966 Flora of New South Wales longifolia Proteales of Australia Plants described in 1830 Taxa named by Robert Brown (botanist, born 1773)