AUSTRALIAN FLORA –
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- 3 v. : col. ill., 1 map, ports. ; 29 cm.
- SCARCE as a complete set
- First Edition
- ISBN:
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- 0864176163 (set
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- 0864176112 (volume 3)
- 0864173261 (volume 2)
- 0864173253 (volume 1)
- #130625
- Grevillea, commonly known as spider flowers,[3] is a genus of about 360 species of evergreen flowering plants in the family Proteaceae. Plants in the genus Grevillea are shrubs, rarely trees, with the leaves arranged alternately along the branches, the flowers zygomorphic, arranged in racemes at the ends of branchlets, and the fruit a follicle that splits down one side only, releasing one or two seeds.Plants in the genus Grevillea are shrubs, rarely small trees with simple or compound leaves arranged alternately along the branchlets. The flowers are zygomorphic and typically arranged in pairs along a sometimes branched raceme at the ends of branchlets. The flowers are bisexual, usually with four tepals in a single whorl. There are four stamens and the gynoecium has a single carpel. The fruit is a thin-walled follicle that splits down only one side, releasing one or two seeds before the next growing season.[4][5][6]
Taxonomy
The genus Grevillea was first formally described in 1809 by Joseph Knight from an unpublished manuscript by Robert Brown.[7][8] Knight gave the spelling Grevillia, corrected by Brown in 1810 to Grevillea in Transactions of the Linnean Society of London.[9] The genus was named in honour of Charles Francis Greville, an 18th-century patron of botany and co-founder of the Royal Horticultural Society.[9][10]
Species
There are over 380 species which are endemic to Australia. 15 other species are endemic to areas outside Australia. Ten of these 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.
Distribution and habitat
Grevilleas grow in most habitats, although few grow in alpine areas, in swamps or saline soils. Most species are endemic to Australia but four species grow in New Guinea, (G. papuana is endemic), ten are endemic to New Caledonia and one species (G. elbertii) is endemic to Sulawesi in Indonesia.[11]