Biology:Grevillea angustiloba

Short description: Species of plant in the family Proteaceae endenic to Australia

Dissected holly-leaf grevillea
Inflorescence and foliage of subsp. angustiloba
Conservation status
Critically Endangered (IUCN 3.1)
Scientific classification
Kingdom:	Plantae
Clade:	Tracheophytes
Clade:	Angiosperms
Clade:	Eudicots
Order:	Proteales
Family:	Proteaceae
Genus:	Grevillea
Species:	G. angustiloba
Binomial name
Grevillea angustiloba (F.Muell.) Downing
Subspecies
G. angustiloba subsp. angustiloba G. angustiloba subsp. wirregaensis

Grevillea angustiloba, commonly known as dissected holly-leaf grevillea, is a species of flowering plant in the family Proteaceae and is endemic to southern continental Australia. It is a prostrate, low-lying or erect shrub with deeply divided pinnate leaves and usually red, sometimes orange or pale yellow flowers.

Description

Grevillea angustiloba is a prostrate to low-lying or erect shrub that grows up to 0.3–2 m (1 ft 0 in–6 ft 7 in) high, 3 m (9.8 ft) wide and has hairy stems. The leaves are 35–117 mm (1.4–4.6 in) long and 19–110 mm (0.75–4.33 in) wide in outline, deeply divided, pinnate or bipinnate with up to thirty lobes, the end lobes mostly linear, 7–42 mm (0.28–1.65 in) long and 1–4 mm (0.039–0.157 in) wide. The flowers are arranged along an erect rachis 20–50 mm (0.79–1.97 in) long, and are red, sometimes orange or pale yellow, the pistil 19.5–25 mm (0.768–0.984 in) long, usually with a pink to red style. Flowering mainly occurs from February to March and the fruit is a follicle 11–16 mm (0.43–0.63 in) long.

Taxonomy

Dissected holly-leaf grevillea was first formally described in 1868 by Ferdinand von Mueller, who gave it the name Grevillea ilicifolia var. angustiloba in his Fragmenta Phytographiae Australiae.

In 2004, Trisha L. Downing, Marco Duretto and Pauline Ladiges raised the variety to species status as G. angustiloba and described two subspecies in Australian Systematic Botany, and the names of the subspecies are accepted by the Australian Plant Census:

• G. angustiloba (F.Muell.) Downing subsp. angustiloba has leaf lobes 2–4 mm (0.079–0.157 in) wide;
• G. angustiloba subsp. wirregaensis Downing has leaf lobes mostly 1.0–1.5 mm (0.039–0.059 in) wide.

Distribution and habitat

Grevillea angustiloba grows in mallee scrub, heath and Melaleuca uncinata communities mainly in the Little Desert region of western Victoria and in south-eastern South Australia.

Conservation status

Grevillea angustiloba is listed as Critically Endangered on the IUCN Red List of Threatened Species. It has a severely restricted distribution, a small population exceeding no more than 250 mature individuals and a projected population reduction of greater than 25% within the next generational length of 30-50 years. The main threats to this species include land clearing for agriculture, salinization and droughts.

References

Wikidata ☰ {{{from}}} entry