Grevillea
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Grevillea (pronounced /ɡrɨˈvɪliə/)[1] is a diverse genus of about 360 species of evergreen flowering plants in the protea family Proteaceae, native to Australia, New Guinea, New Caledonia, and Sulawesi. It was named in honour of Charles Francis Greville. The species range from prostrate shrubs less than 0.5 m tall to trees 35 m tall. Common names include Grevillea, Spider Flower, Silky-oak and Toothbrush.
Closely related to the genus Hakea, the genus gives its name to the subfamily Grevilleoideae. Many species of grevilleas are popular garden plants, especially in Australia but also in other temperate and subtropical climates. Many grevilleas have a propensity to interbreed freely, and extensive hybridisation and selection of horticulturally desirable attributes has led to the commercial release of many cultivars. Among the best known are Grevillea 'Robyn Gordon', a small shrub up to 1.5 metres high and wide which can flower 12 months of the year in subtropical climates.
Many species are cultivated for their distinctive foliage and showy flowers, and they have been extensively hybridised.
Grevilleas hybridise extremely easily in cultivation. this has resulted in a huge number of named Grevillea cultivars.
They are also good bird-attracting plants, honeyeaters in particular are common visitors.
Cultivation
Propagation
They can be grown from soft tip cuttings from December-March (in the Southern Hemisphere) or seed.
Many harder to grow species can be grafted onto hardy rootstock such as Grevillea robusta.
Pests and diseases
Species
- Main article: List of Grevillea species
There are over 350 species which are endemic to Australia, including the following:
Five species are endemic to areas outside Australia. Three of these - G. exul., G. gillvayi, and G. mesneri are endemic to New Caledonia while G. elbertii and G. papuana are endemic to Sulawesi and New Guinea respectively. Two other species, G. baileyana and G. glauca, occur in both New Guinea and Queensland.
Gallery
G. candelabroides, Mingenew
Grevillea dielsiana
G. wickhamii aprica
G. rivularis
References
- ↑ Sunset Western Garden Book, 1995:606–607
- ↑ Threatened species
External links
- w:Grevillea. Some of the material on this page may be from Wikipedia, under the Creative Commons license.
- Grevillea QR Code (Size 50, 100, 200, 500)
