''Grevillea mollis'', commonly known as soft 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 a restricted area of north-eastern New South Wales. It is an open, spreading shrub with oblong to elliptic leaves and loose clusters of bright scarlet red flowers.

Description

''Grevillea mollis'' is an open, spreading shrub that typically grows to a height of and has shaggy-hairy branchlets. Its leaves are oblong to narrowly oblong or elliptic, long and wide. The upper surface is covered with soft hairs, the lower side with shaggy hairs and the edges are wavy. The flowers are arranged in loose clusters of four to eight on a

peduncle Peduncle may refer to: *Peduncle (botany), a stalk supporting an inflorescence, which is the part of the shoot of seed plants where flowers are formed *Peduncle (anatomy), a stem, through which a mass of tissue is attached to a body **Peduncle (art ...

up to long, the rachis long with young buds developing as the older flowers fade. The flowers are bright scarlet red, 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 green to yellow pollen presenter. Flowering mainly occurs from August to November and the fruit is an elliptic follicle long.

Taxonomy

''Grevillea mollis'' was first formally described in 1994 by

Peter M. Olde Peter may refer to: People * List of people named Peter, a list of people and fictional characters with the given name * Peter (given name) ** Saint Peter (died 60s), apostle of Jesus, leader of the early Christian Church * Peter (surname), a sur ...

and

Bill Molyneux William Mitchell Molyneux (born 1935) is an Australian horticulturist and author who has researched and developed many popular cultivars of Australian plants, including Banksia 'Birthday Candles', and Isopogon 'Woorikee 2000'. '' Grevillea mo ...

in the journal '' Telopea'' from specimens collected in 1993 in the

Gibraltar Range National Park Gibraltar Range is a national park in north-eastern New South Wales, Australia, north-east of Glen Innes and north of Sydney. The Park is part of the Washpool and Gibraltar Range area of the World Heritage Site Gondwana Rainforests of Au ...

. 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 ...

(''mollis'') means "soft", referring to the texture of the leaves.

Distribution and habitat

Soft grevillea grows on ridges, rocky slopes and creek flats in tall forest and is only known from the Gibraltar Range and Nymboida national parks in north-eastern New South Wales.

Conservation status

This grevillea is listed as "endangered" under the Australian Government '' Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation Act 1999'' and the New South Wales Government '' Biodiversity Conservation Act 2016''. The main threats to the species are its small population size and restricted distribution, inappropriate fire regimes and visitor impacts.

References

{{Taxonbar, from=Q5607975

mollis Mollis is a former municipality in the canton of Glarus in Switzerland. Effective from 1 January 2011, Mollis is part of the municipality of Glarus Nord. History Mollis is first mentioned in 1288. Geography Mollis has an area, , of . Of this ...

Flora of New South Wales Endangered flora of Australia Proteales of Australia Plants described in 1994