Grevillea preissii


Grevillea preissii is a species of flowering plant in the family Proteaceae and is endemic to the southwest of Western Australia. It is a mounded to spreading or dense, erect shrub, the leaves divided with 5 to 7 linear to more or less cylindrical lobes, and groups of reddish flowers arranged along one side of the flowering rachis.

Description

Grevillea preissii is a mounded to spreading shrub that typically grows to a height of or a dense, erect shrub to and usually has woolly- or shaggy-hairy branchlets. The leaves are long and divided, usually with 5 to 7 linear to more or less cylindrical lobes long and wide. The edges of the leaves are rolled under, obscuring most of the lower surface. The flowers are arranged in groups of 12 to 30 on one side of a rachis long and are red, orange-red or pinkish red, the pistil long. Flowering mainly occurs from May to October and the fruit is an oval follicle about long.

Taxonomy

Grevillea preissii was first formally described in 1845 by Carl Meissner in Johann Georg Christian Lehmann's Plantae Preissianae. The specific epithet honours Ludwig Preiss.
In 1994, Peter M. Olde and Neil R. Marriott described two subspecies of G. preissii and the names are accepted by the Australian Plant Census:Grevillea preissii subsp. gabrilimba Olde & Marriott usually has shaggy-hairy young leaves and branchlets, leaves usually long, the floral rachis and outside of the flowers more or less glabrous.Grevillea preissii Meisn. subsp. preissii usually has silky- to woolly-hairy young leaves, branchlets, and floral rachis, the leaves usually long, and the outside of the flowers sparsely hairy.

Distribution and habitat

Grevillea preissiisubsp. glabrilimba grows in low heath, in near-coastal areas between Green Head and Leeman and subsp. preissii is found in coastal areas between Lancelin and Bunbury, in the southwest of Western Australia.

Conservation status

Bothe subspecies of G. preissii are listed as "not threatened" by the Western Australian Government Department of Biodiversity, Conservation and Attractions.