Grevillea irrasa
Grevillea irrasa is a species of flowering plant in the family Proteaceae and is endemic to south-eastern New South Wales. It is an erect, spreading shrub with oblong to egg-shaped leaves with the narrower end towards the base, and clusters of red to apricot-coloured flowers.
Description
Grevillea irrasa is an erect, spreading shrub that typically grows to a height of and has hairy branchlets. Its leaves are oblong to egg-shaped with the narrower end towards the base, long and wide, the edges rolled under and the lower surface with felty or shaggy hairs. The flowers are usually arranged on the ends of branches in clusters of six to sixteen on a rachis long and are red to apricot-coloured, the pistil long. Flowering occurs from August to January and the fruit is a glabrous oval to elliptic follicle long.Taxonomy
Grevillea irrasa was first formally described in 2000 by Australian botanist Robert Owen Makinson in the Flora of Australia from specimens collected in the Nullica State Forest in 1997. The specific epithet means "unpolished" or "unshaven" and refers to the surface of the leaves, branchlets and flowers.In the same publication, Makinson described two subspecies of G. irrasa and the names are accepted by the Australian Plant Census:
- Grevillea irrasa subsp. didymochiton Makinson has leaves that are egg-shaped or lance-shaped with the narrower end towards the base, or elliptic or oblong, and five to seven times as long as broad;
- Grevillea irrasa subsp. irrasa Makinson has leaves that are narrowly oblong to lance-shaped with the narrower end towards the base, and five to ten times as long as broad.