Grevillea oxyantha 

Location & distribution maps

Common name:         . . .

Conservation status: . . .

Etymology:   

• The genus was named in honour of Charles Francis Greville, an 18th-century patron of botany and co-founder of the Royal Horticultural Society

• The specific epithet (oxyantha) means "sharp-flowered", referring to the shape of part of the flower bud

Flowers:                  

• The flowers are arranged in more or less cylindrical clusters on a rachis 8–45 mm long

• The flowers are scarlet to crimson and woolly- or silky-hairy on the outside, pink inside, the pistil 18–24 mm long

• Flowering mainly occurs from August to December 

Fruit:                         

• The fruit is a glabrous, oval to elliptic follicle 15–20 mm long

Leaves:         

• Its leaves are broadly elliptic to broadly egg-shaped or almost round, 20–60 mm long and 15–35 mm wide

• The lower surface covered with woolly or silky hairs

Stem & branches: 

• It has silky-hairy branchlets

Roots:         

Habit:        

• An erect to spreading shrub that typically grows to a height of 1–3 m 

Habitat:   

• Usually grows in rocky places in forest, often near peaks or cliffs

Distribution:                  

• It is found from near Wee Jasper to near Tumut, Batlow and Brown Mountain

• Subspecies oxyantha is mostly found in the Brindabella, Tinderry and Kybean Ranges, and south to Brown Mountain in south-eastern New South Wales and the Australian Capital Territory

• There are also records from Taradale in central Victoria

• Subspecies ecarinata occurs from near Wee Jasper to Tumut and Batlow

Additional notes:     

• Taxonomy

  • Grevillea oxyantha was first formally described in 1997 by Robert Owen Makinson in the journal Telopea from specimens collected by R.D. Hoogland near Mount Franklin in 1961

  • In the same edition of the journal Telopea, Makinson described two subspecies of G. oxyantha and the names are accepted by the Australian Plant Census:

    • Grevillea oxyantha subsp. ecarinata Makinson has egg-shaped to elliptic leaves, the lower surface with straight, silky hairs

    • Grevillea oxyantha Makinson subsp. oxyantha has broadly egg-shaped to elliptic or more or less round leaves, the lower surface with woolly, curved to wavy hairs

Sources of information:

• https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Grevillea_oxyantha (2024)