''Grevillea pterosperma'', commonly known as desert grevillea or desert 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 continental Australia. It is an erect, rounded shrub with linear leaves, sometimes divided with up to six linear lobes, and cylindrical clusters of greyish white and creamy white flowers with a cream-coloured to pale yellow style.

Description

''Grevillea pterosperma'' is an erect, rounded shrub that typically grows to a height of . Its leaves are pointed upwards, more or less linear, long and wide, sometimes divided with up to 6 linear lobes wide. The upper surface has 3 to 5 longitudinal grooves, and the edges are rolled under, obscuring the lower surface. The flowers are arranged in dense, cylindrical clusters long, the flowers at the end of the clusters usually opening first. The flowers are greyish white and woolly- to silky-hairy on the outside, creamy-white and more or less glabrous inside, the style cream-coloured to pale yellow and 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 June to January and the fruit is a hairy follicle long.

Taxonomy

''Grevillea pterosperma'' was first formally described in 1854 by Victorian Government Botanist

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 ''

Transactions of the Philosophical Society of Victoria The Royal Society of Victoria (RSV) is the oldest scientific society in the state of Victoria in Australia. Foundation In 1854 two organisations formed with similar aims and membership, these being ''The Philosophical Society of Victoria'' (fou ...

'', based on plants observed " the

Mallee scrub Mallee Woodlands and Shrublands is one of 32 Major Vegetation Groups defined by the Australian Government Department of the Environment and Energy. Description " Mallee" refers to the growth habit of a group of (mainly) eucalypt species that g ...

on sandhills towards the junction of the

Murray Murray may refer to: Businesses * Murray (bicycle company), an American manufacturer of low-cost bicycles * Murrays, an Australian bus company * Murray International Trust, a Scottish investment trust * D. & W. Murray Limited, an Australian who ...

and Murrumbidgee". 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 ...

(''pterosperma'') means "wing-seeded".

Distribution and habitat

Desert grevillea grows on and between sand dunes and on sandplains and in shrublands, woodlands and mallee in mostly inland areas of the Northern Territory and all mainland states, except Queensland.

References

{{Taxonbar, from=Q15580462 pterosperma Proteales of Australia Flora of New South Wales Flora of the Northern Territory Flora of South Australia Flora of Victoria (state) Eudicots of Western Australia Taxa named by Ferdinand von Mueller Plants described in 1854