''Grevillea miqueliana'' 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
Victoria in Australia. It is an erect to spreading shrub with elliptic to egg-shaped leaves and clusters of red and orange or yellow flowers.
Description
''Grevillea miqueliana'' is a spreading shrub that typically grows to a height of and shaggy- to woolly-hairy branchlets. The leaves are elliptic to egg-shaped, sometimes with the narrower end towards the base, long and wide with the edges turned down or rolled under. The lower surface is covered with velvety to shaggy hairs. The flowers are usually arranged on the ends of branches or in leaf axils in oval to cylindrical clusters of 6 to 20 on a
rachis long. The flowers are red with yellow or orange blotches, 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 in most months, in the absence of snow, and the fruit is a
follicle long.
Taxonomy
''Grevillea miqueliana'' was first formally described in 1855 by
Ferdinand von Mueller
Baron Sir Ferdinand Jacob Heinrich von Mueller, (german: Müller; 30 June 1825 – 10 October 1896) was a German-Australian physician, geographer, and most notably, a botanist. He was appointed government botanist for the then colony of Vict ...
in his ''Definitions of rare or hitherto undescribed Australian plants''. The species epithet honours Dutch botanist
Friedrich Anton Wilhelm Miquel
Friedrich Anton Wilhelm Miquel (24 October 1811 – 23 January 1871) was a Dutch botanist, whose main focus of study was on the flora of the Dutch East Indies.
Early life
Miquel was born in Neuenhaus and studied medicine at the University of Groni ...
.
In 2000,
William Molyneux and
Val Stajsic described two subspecies of ''G. miqueliana'' in the ''
Flora of Australia'', and in 2006, they described a third in the journal ''
Muelleria''.
The names of the three subspecies are accepted by the
Australian Plant Census:
* ''Grevillea miqueliana'' subsp. ''cincta''
Molyneux & Stajsic,
commonly known as Selma Saddle grevillea;
* ''Grevillea miqueliana''
F.Muell. subsp. ''miqueliana'',
commonly known as oval-leaf grevillea;
* ''Grevillea miqueliana'' subsp. ''moroka''
Molyneux & Stajsic commonly known as Moroka grevillea.
The main difference between the morphology of the subspecies is the nature of the hairs on the branches and leaves.
Distribution and habitat
''Grevillea miqueliana'' occurs in
montane areas of eastern Victoria.
Subspecies ''cincta'' is only known from two sites in
subalpine areas of central
Gippsland, including
Mount Selma.
Subspecies ''miqueliana'' is more widely distributed in central Gippsland and alpine areas of Victoria, at altitudes between
and subsp. ''moroka'' is found at altitudes between in alpine areas, include the
Moroka River region.
Conservation status
Subspecies ''cincta'' is listed as "endangered" and subspp. ''miqueliana'' and ''moroka'' are listed as "vulnerable" under the Victorian Government ''
Flora and Fauna Guarantee Act 1988''.
References
External links
Herbarium specimen at Kew Botanic Gardens
{{Taxonbar, from=Q5607971
miqueliana
Flora of Victoria (state)
Proteales of Australia
Taxa named by Ferdinand von Mueller