''Grevillea speciosa'', commonly known as red 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
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 the
Central Coast of New South Wales. It is an erect shrub with elliptic to egg-shaped or more or less circular leaves and more or less spherical, downturned clusters of red flowers.
Description
''Grevillea speciosa'' is an erect shrub that typically grows to a height of , its branchlets covered with silky to shaggy hairs. The leaves are elliptic to egg-shaped with the narrower end towards the base, or more or less circular, mostly long and wide with the edges turned down. The lower surface of the leaves is silky to softly-hairy. The flowers are arranged in large, downturned, dome-shaped to spherical clusters long, the flowers red, rarely pink or very rarely 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'' ...
is long and the
style is gently curved. Flowering mainly occurs from July to October, and the fruit is an elliptic to narrowly oval
follicle long.
Taxonomy
This species was first formally described in 1809 by
Joseph Knight who gave it the name ''Lysanthe speciosa'' in ''
''.
In 1975,
Donald McGillivray moved it to the genus ''Grevillea'' as ''Grevillea speciosa'' in the journal ''
Telopea''.
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 ...
(''speciosa'') means "showy".
Distribution and habitat
Red spider flower grows on ridgetops and hillsides in moist heath, low woodland and forest in sandy soil from
Gosford
Gosford is the city and administrative centre of the Central Coast Council local government area in the heart of the Central Coast region, about north of Sydney and about south of Newcastle. The city centre is situated at the northern extre ...
,
Kulnura
Kulnura () is a suburb of the Central Coast region of New South Wales, Australia, located north of Mangrove Mountain along George Downes Drive. It is within local government area. Kulnura's name is an Aboriginal word meaning "in sight of the ...
and
Bucketty
Bucketty is a locality in the City of Cessnock local government area (LGA), in New South Wales, Australia. It is in the south of the LGA, immediately adjacent to the border with the City of Hawkesbury and Central Coast Council, in the Hunter Reg ...
to just south of
Port Jackson
Port Jackson, consisting of the waters of Sydney Harbour, Middle Harbour, North Harbour and the Lane Cove and Parramatta Rivers, is the ria or natural harbour of Sydney, New South Wales, Australia. The harbour is an inlet of the Tasman Sea (p ...
on the central coast of New South Wales.
References
External links
{{Taxonbar, from=Q5228404
speciosa
Speciosa (foaled 28 April 2003) is an Irish-bred, British-trained Thoroughbred racehorse. In a racing career which lasted from June 2005 and October 2007 she ran seventeen times and won four races. As a two-year-old, she won two of her six race ...
Flora of New South Wales
Proteales of Australia
Plants described in 1809