Grevillea mimosoides, commonly known as caustic bush,[2] is a species of flowering plant in the family Proteaceae and is endemic to northern Australia. It is a shrub or small tree with curved, narrowly elliptic or egg-shaped leaves and greenish-white to cream-coloured or pale yellow flowers.

Grevillea mimosoides
In Kakadu National Park
Scientific classification Edit this classification
Kingdom: Plantae
Clade: Tracheophytes
Clade: Angiosperms
Clade: Eudicots
Order: Proteales
Family: Proteaceae
Genus: Grevillea
Species:
G. mimosoides
Binomial name
Grevillea mimosoides
Habit

Description

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Grevillea microstyla is shrub or tree that typically grows to a height of 2–10 m (6 ft 7 in – 32 ft 10 in) and has thick, furrowed grey bark. Its leaves are curved, narrowly elliptic to egg-shaped with the narrower end towards the base, 65–400 mm (2.6–15.7 in) long and 6–50 mm (0.24–1.97 in) wide. The flowers are usually arranged on the ends of branches in cylindrical clusters 120–150 mm (4.7–5.9 in) long and are greenish-white to cream-coloured or pale yellow, the pistil 5–11 mm (0.20–0.43 in) long and glabrous. Flowering occurs in most months with a peak from July to September, and the fruit is a flattened elliptic to oval follicle 14–25 mm (0.55–0.98 in) long.[2][3][4]

Taxonomy

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Grevillea mimosoides was first formally described in 1810 by Robert Brown in Transactions of the Linnean Society of London from specimens collected near the coast of the Gulf of Carpentaria.[5][6] The specific epithet (mimosoides) means "Mimosa-like".[7]

Distribution and habitat

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Caustic bush grows in shrubland or woodland, often in seasonally wet areas, and is found in the northern and western Kimberley region of Western Australia, the northern part of the Northern Territory, and north of Cloncurry, Chillagoe and Mareeba in northern Queensland.[2][3][4]

References

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  1. ^ "Grevillea mimosoides". Australian Plant Census. Retrieved 8 July 2022.
  2. ^ a b c "Grevillea mimosoides". Australian Biological Resources Study, Department of Agriculture, Water and the Environment: Canberra. Retrieved 8 July 2022.
  3. ^ a b "Grevillea mimosoides". Northern Territory Government. Retrieved 8 July 2022.
  4. ^ a b "Grevillea mimosoides". FloraBase. Western Australian Government Department of Biodiversity, Conservation and Attractions.
  5. ^ "Grevillea mimosoides". APNI. Retrieved 8 July 2022.
  6. ^ Brown, Robert (1810). "On the Proteaceae of Jussieu". Transactions of the Linnean Society of London. 10 (1): 177. Retrieved 8 July 2022.
  7. ^ Sharr, Francis Aubi; George, Alex (2019). Western Australian Plant Names and Their Meanings (3rd ed.). Kardinya, WA: Four Gables Press. p. 253. ISBN 9780958034180.