Grevillea eriostachya

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Grevillea eriostachya
Grevillea eriostachya shrub.jpg
Near Kata Tjuta
Scientific classification OOjs UI icon edit-ltr.svg
Kingdom: Plantae
Clade: Tracheophytes
Clade: Angiosperms
Clade: Eudicots
Order: Proteales
Family: Proteaceae
Genus: Grevillea
Species:
G. eriostachya
Binomial name
Grevillea eriostachya
Flower detail Grevillea eriostachya close up.jpg
Flower detail

Grevillea eriostachya, also known as yellow flame grevillea [3] or honey grevillea, [4] [5] is a species of flowering plant in the family Proteaceae and is endemic to western parts of Australia. It is a shrub with a leafy base, mostly linear leaves and conical groups of bright yellow flowers on long canes above the foliage.

Contents

Description

Grevillea eriostachya is a shrub that typically grows to a height of 1–3 m (3 ft 3 in – 9 ft 10 in) and has a leafy base with long, arching flowering branches covered with woolly hairs. The leaves are 50–300 mm (2.0–11.8 in) long, those on the flowering stems linear, other leaves sometimes with two to seven linear lobes, the leaves or lobes mostly 1–2 mm (0.039–0.079 in) long. The flowers are borne above the foliage in sometimes branched, conical groups of about 100 to 200 flowers on peduncles up to 400 mm (16 in) long, the rachis 75–200 mm (3.0–7.9 in) long, the flowers at the base of each group opening first. The flowers are green in bud, later bright yellow and woolly-hairy, the pistil 14.5–22 mm (0.57–0.87 in) long. Flowering occurs in all months and the fruit is a follicle 15–22 mm (0.59–0.87 in) long. [3] [6] [4] [7]

Taxonomy

Grevillea eriostachya was first formally described in 1840 by John Lindley in A Sketch of the Vegetation of the Swan River Colony . [8] [9] The specific epithet (eriostachya) means "woolly flower-spike". [10]

Distribution and habitat

Flame grevillea grows in heath or shrub on sandplains and is widespread in arid and semi-arid areas of Western Australia, the south-west of the Northern Territory and far north-western South Australia. [11] [6] [4] [3]

Ecology

Nectar-eating birds are attracted to the flowers and are pollinators of this grevillea. [7] Following fires, this species regenerates from a lignotuber within the eastern part of its range in the eremaean province area, and is an obligate seeder in the western part of its distribution. [1]

Uses

Because of the sweet taste of the shrub's flowers, Aboriginal Australians used it as a sweetener and to add variety to their meals. [12]

Conservation status

Grevillea eriostachya is currently listed as Least Concern on the IUCN Red List of Threatened Species. It has an extremely wide distribution, is common, has a stable population and is not facing any major threats, either at present or in the near future. Some populations south of Perth are impacted by habitat clearance for agriculture. [1]

Related Research Articles

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Grevillea triloba is species of flowering plant in the family Proteaceae and is endemic to near Geraldton in Western Australia. It is a diffuse or spreading shrub, usually with divided leaves with 3 spreading, linear lobes, and clusters of white flowers.

<i>Grevillea humifusa</i> Species of shrub in the family Proteaceae endemic to Western Australia

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<i>Grevillea flexuosa</i> Species of shrub in the family Proteaceae endemic to Western Australia

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<i>Grevillea excelsior</i> Species of shrub in the family Proteaceae endemic to Western Australia

Grevillea excelsior, commonly known as flame grevillea or orange flame grevillea, is a species of flowering plant in the family Proteaceae and is endemic to the south-west of Western Australia. It is an erect shrub or small tree with usually divided leaves with linear lobes, and clusters of orange flowers.

<i>Grevillea intricata</i> Species of flowering plant

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<i>Grevillea erectiloba</i> Species of shrub in the family Proteaceae endemic to Western Australia

Grevillea erectiloba is a species of flowering plant in the family Proteaceae and is endemic to inland areas of south-west of Western Australia. It is dense, rounded shrub with divided leaves with up to fifteen linear lobes, and groups of bright red flowers that are green in the bud stage.

<i>Grevillea juncifolia</i> Species of shrub or tree in the family Proteaceae endemic to inland Australia

Grevillea juncifolia, commonly known as honeysuckle grevillea, honey grevillea, honeysuckle spider flower, and many indigenous names, is a species of flowering plant in the family Proteaceae and is endemic to inland Australia. It is a bushy shrub or small tree with erect, linear leaves and clusters of bright yellow to orange flowers.

<i>Grevillea nana</i> Species of shrub in the family Proteaceae endemic to Western Australia

Grevillea nana, commonly known as dwarf grevillea, is a species of flowering plant in the family Proteaceae and is endemic to the south-west of Western Australia. It is a prostrate to low, mounded, dense shrub with divided leaves with sharply-pointed, linear lobes, and clusters of pink, orange, yellow or red flowers.

<i>Grevillea biternata</i> Species of shrub in the family Proteaceae endemic to Western Australia

Grevillea biternata is a species of flowering plant in the family Proteaceae and is endemic to the south-west of Western Australia. It is a shrub with divided leaves with linear lobes and clusters of white flowers.

<i>Grevillea fasciculata</i> Species of shrub in the family Proteaceae endemic to Western Australia

Grevillea fasciculata is a species of flowering plant in the family Proteaceae and is endemic to the south-west of Western Australia. It is a low, often spreading shrub with narrowly elliptic to more or less linear leaves and erect clusters of red and orange or orange and yellow flowers.

<i>Grevillea anethifolia</i> Species of shrub of the family Proteaceae that is endemic to Western Australia

Grevillea anethifolia, commonly known as spiny cream spider flower, is a species of flowering plant in the family Proteaceae and is endemic to continental Australia. It is an erect shrub with hairy branchlets, lobed leaves, the lobes sharply pointed, and white to pale yellow or cream-coloured flowers.

<i>Grevillea calliantha</i> Species of shrub in the family Proteaceae endemic to Western Australia

Grevillea calliantha, commonly known as Foote's grevillea, Cataby grevillea or black magic grevillea, is a species of flowering plant in the family Proteaceae and is endemic to a restricted part of the south-west of Western Australia. It is a spreading, compact shrub with pinnatipartite leaves with linear lobes, and pale yellow to apricot-coloured flowers with a maroon-black to reddish style.

<i>Grevillea erinacea</i> Species of shrub in the family Proteaceae endemic to Western Australia

Grevillea erinacea is a species of flowering plant in the family Proteaceae and is endemic to the south-west of Western Australia. It is a spreading shrub with deeply-divided leaves with three to five linear lobes, rotated through 90°, and cream-coloured flowers with a white style.

<i>Grevillea eriobotrya</i> Species of shrub in the family Proteaceae endemic to Western Australia

Grevillea eriobotrya, commonly called the woolly cluster grevillea, is a species of flowering plant in the family Proteaceae and is endemic to a small area in the south-west of Western Australia. It is dense, erect, spreading shrub usually with linear leaves, and groups of white to creamy-white flowers.

<i>Grevillea erythroclada</i> Species of shrub in the family Proteaceae endemic to Western Australia

Grevillea erythroclada, commonly called needle-leaf grevillea, is a species of flowering plant in the family Proteaceae and is endemic to northern Australia. It is a shrub or small tree with divided leaves, the ultimate lobes linear to more or less cylindrical, and clusters of cream-coloured to pale yellow flowers.

<i>Grevillea eryngioides</i> Species of shrub in the family Proteaceae endemic to Western Australia

Grevillea eryngioides, commonly called curly grevillea, is a species of flowering plant in the family Proteaceae and is endemic to the south-west of Western Australia. It is shrub with low clumping foliage with erect flowering spikes, divided leaves with oblong to egg-shaped lobes, and groups of purplish-red flowers with a yellow style.

<i>Grevillea pilulifera</i> Species of shrub in the family Proteaceae endemic to Western Australia

Grevillea pilulifera, commonly known as woolly-flowered grevillea, is a species of flowering plant in the family Proteaceae and is endemic to the south-west of Western Australia. It is an erect or spreading shrub with linear to narrowly oblong leaves and hairy, white to cream-coloured flowers, the style with a bright yellow, later red tip.

<i>Grevillea spinosa</i> Species of shrub in the family Proteaceae endemic to Western Australia

Grevillea spinosa, commonly known as tjiilka-tjiilka, is species of flowering plant in the family Proteaceae and is endemic to inland Western Australia. It is a dense, prickly shrub with mostly pinnatipartite leaves with rigid, sharply-pointed linear lobes, and erect clusters of reddish to blackish green flowers with a bright yellow to orange style.

Grevillea dunlopii is a species of flowering plant in the family Proteaceae and is endemic to the northern part of the Northern Territory. It is a spreading shrub with divided leaves with nine to seventeen spreading lobes, and pale cream-coloured to white flowers.

Grevillea elongata, also known as Ironstone grevillea, is a species of flowering plant in the family Proteaceae and is endemic to the south-west of Western Australia. It is a shrub with divided leaves with sharply-pointed linear lobes, and conical or cylindrical groups of white flowers.

References

  1. 1 2 3 Olde, P.; Keighery, G. (2020). "Grevillea eriostachya". IUCN Red List of Threatened Species . 2020: e.T113016966A113307961. doi: 10.2305/IUCN.UK.2020-2.RLTS.T113016966A113307961.en . Retrieved 10 January 2024.
  2. "Grevillea eriostachya". Australian Plant Census. Retrieved 13 April 2022.
  3. 1 2 3 "Grevillea eriostachya". Australian Biological Resources Study, Department of Agriculture, Water and the Environment: Canberra. Retrieved 14 April 2022.
  4. 1 2 3 "Grevillea eriostachya". Northern Territory Government. Retrieved 13 April 2022.
  5. "Honey grevillea". Parks Australia . Retrieved 17 October 2024.
  6. 1 2 "Grevillea eriostachya". State Herbarium of South Australia. Retrieved 13 April 2022.
  7. 1 2 "Grevillea eriostachya". Australian Native Plants Society . Retrieved 13 April 2022.
  8. "Grevillea eriostachya". APNI. Retrieved 14 April 2022.
  9. Lindley, John (1839). A Sketch of the Vegetation of the Swan River Colony. London: James Ridgway. p. xxxvi. Retrieved 14 April 2022.
  10. Sharr, Francis Aubi; George, Alex (2019). Western Australian Plant Names and Their Meanings (3rd ed.). Kardinya, WA: Four Gables Press. p. 193. ISBN   9780958034180.
  11. "Grevillea eriostachya". FloraBase . Western Australian Government Department of Biodiversity, Conservation and Attractions.
  12. A. Gould, Richard; Amorosi, Nicholas (1969). Yiwara: Foragers of the Australian Desert. New York: Charles Scribner's Sons. p. 16. ISBN   978-0684310435.