Grevillea pungens, also known as flame grevillea,[2] is a species of flowering plant in the family Proteaceae and is endemic to the Northern Territory in Australia. It is a shrub with egg-shaped leaves with rigid, sharply-pointed teeth or lobes, and hairy, deep pink to orange flowers.

Flame grevillea
Grevillea pungens near Nitmiluk National Park
Scientific classification Edit this classification
Kingdom: Plantae
Clade: Tracheophytes
Clade: Angiosperms
Clade: Eudicots
Order: Proteales
Family: Proteaceae
Genus: Grevillea
Species:
G. pungens
Binomial name
Grevillea pungens
Synonyms[1]

Grevillea leichardtii S.Moore

Foliage

Description

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Grevillea pungens is a shrub that typically grows to a height of 1–3 m (3 ft 3 in – 9 ft 10 in). Its leaves are egg-shaped to narrowly egg-shaped in outline, 15–85 mm (0.59–3.35 in) long and 15–30 mm (0.59–1.18 in) wide with 6 to 30 sharply-pointed, rigid, linear to triangular lobes or teeth, 5–15 mm (0.20–0.59 in) long. The lower lobes are usually toothed or divided again. The flowers are arranged in groups on one side of a rachis mostly 40–110 mm (1.6–4.3 in) long, the oldest flowers at the base. The flowers are hairy, yellow to pale green in bud, becoming white, pink, orange, red or purplish, the pistil 15.5–17.5 mm (0.61–0.69 in) long. Flowering mainly occurs in the dry season from July to November.[2][3][4]

Taxonomy

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Grevillea pungens was first formally described in 1810 by Robert Brown in the Transactions of the Linnean Society of London.[5][6] The specific epithet (pungens) means "sharply pointed".[4]

Distribution and habitat

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Flame grevillea occurs in the tropical Top End of the Northern Territory, from Gunbalanya to Gove and the lower Roper River. It grows in open eucalypt woodland on sandy soils, often among rocks or near creeks.[2]

References

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  1. ^ a b "Grevillea pungens". Australian Plant Census. Retrieved 2 November 2022.
  2. ^ a b c "Grevillea pungens". Australian Biological Resources Study, Department of Agriculture, Water and the Environment: Canberra. Retrieved 4 November 2022.
  3. ^ "Grevillea pungens". Northern Territory Government. Retrieved 4 November 2022.
  4. ^ a b Wrigley, John W.; Fagg, Murray A. (1991). Banksias, waratahs & grevilleas : and all other plants in the Australian Proteaceae family. North Ryde, NSW, Australia: Angus & Robertson. p. 315. ISBN 0207172773.
  5. ^ "Grevillea pungens". APNI. Retrieved 4 November 2022.
  6. ^ Brown, Robert (1810). "On the Proteaceae of Jussieu". Transactions of the Linnean Society of London. 10 (1): 175. Retrieved 4 November 2022.