''Grevillea sphacelata'', also known as the grey 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 eastern New South Wales. It is a spreading or erect shrub with narrowly linear to oblong leaves and clusters of hairy, pale brown and pink flowers.
Description
''Grevillea sphacelata'' is a spreading to erect shrub that typically grows to a height of and has silky-hairy branchlets. The leaves are narrowly linear to oblong, long and wide with the edges turned down or rolled under. The upper surface of the leaves is
glabrous and the lower surface is silky-hairy. The flowers are arranged in
umbel
In botany, an umbel is an inflorescence that consists of a number of short flower stalks (called pedicels) that spread from a common point, somewhat like umbrella ribs. The word was coined in botanical usage in the 1590s, from Latin ''umbella'' "p ...
-like clusters, the flowers at the ends of the clusters flowering first. The flowers are pale brown and pink, covered with greyish hairs, 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, the
style pinkish-grey. Flowering mainly occurs from July to January and the fruit is an oval
follicle long.
Taxonomy
''Grevillea sphacelata'' was first formally described in 1810 by
Robert
The name Robert is an ancient Germanic given name, from Proto-Germanic "fame" and "bright" (''Hrōþiberhtaz''). Compare Old Dutch ''Robrecht'' and Old High German ''Hrodebert'' (a compound of '' Hruod'' ( non, Hróðr) "fame, glory, honou ...
in ''
Transactions of the Linnean Society of London''.
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 ...
(''sphacelata'') means "having brown or blackish speckles".
Distribution and habitat
Grey spider flower grows in woodland and heath, mainly on the
Woronora Plateau
The Woronora Plateau is a plateau located in New South Wales, Australia. The area is adjacent to the Sydney Plains and is slightly higher in altitude. It is capped with Hawkesbury Sandstone. It is often hotter in summer and colder in winter than ...
but generally in 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. ...
and south to
Dapto, west to
Mittagong, with a
disjunct population between
Nowra,
Huskisson and
Wandandian
The Wandandian are an Aboriginal Australian people of the South Coast of New South Wales with connections to the Yuin and Tharawal nations.
Country
The Wandandian lands extended over an estimated from Ulladulla to the Shoalhaven River and Now ...
on the south coast of New South Wales.
See also
*
List of ''Grevillea'' species
References
{{Taxonbar, from=Q15582472
sphacelata
Proteales of Australia
Endemic flora of Australia
Flora of New South Wales
Taxa named by Robert Brown (botanist, born 1773)
Plants described in 1810