Grevillea buxifolia


Grevillea buxifolia, commonly known as grey spider flower, is a species of flowering plant in the family Proteaceae, and is endemic to New South Wales, Australia. It is an erect to spreading shrub with elliptic to egg-shaped leaves, and woolly-hairy clusters of rust-coloured to fawn flowers.

Description

Grevillea buxifolia is an erect to spreading shrub that typically grows to a height of. The leaves are egg-shaped, narrowly oblong to elliptic, long and wide with the edges turned down or rolled under. The flowers are arranged in clusters on the ends of branchlets and are covered with woolly, rust-coloured to fawn and whitish hairs, the pistil long. Flowering mainly occurs from spring to autumn and the fruit is a usually hairy, oval follicle long.

Taxonomy

This species was first formally described in 1794 by James Edward Smith who gave it the name Embothrium boxifolium in his A Specimen of the Botany of New Holland. In 1810, Robert Brown changed the name to Grevillea buxifolia in Transactions of the Linnean Society of London. The specific epithet means "box-tree-leaved".
The names of two subspecies of G. buxifolia are accepted by the Australian Plant Census:Grevillea buxifolia R.Br. subsp. buxifolia has a conspicuous appendage usually long on the style;Grevillea buxifolia subsp. ecorniculata Olde & Marriott usually lacks a style appendage, but if present, it is less than long.

Distribution and habitat

Grey spider flower grows in woodland or heath in New South Wales, on the South Coast, Central Coast and inland to near Pigeon House Mountain west of Ulladulla. Subspecies ecorniculata is restricted to the area between Putty, Gospers Mountain and Wollombi north-west of Sydney.

Conservation status

Despite its relatively limited distribution, Grevillea buxifolia is listed as Least Concern on the IUCN Red List of Threatened Species, as it is locally common, its population is presumed to be stable, it occurs within protected areas and there are no major threats currently affecting it. The main threat to this species is inappropriate fire regimes, meaning an increased frequency in bushfires.