Synaphea grandis
Synaphea grandis is a species of flowering plant in the family Proteaceae and is endemic to the south-west of Western Australia. It is a tufted shrub with stems covered with soft hairs, pinnatipartite leaves with one or two pinnatipartite lobes, spikes of more or less crowded yellow flowers and oval fruit.
Description
Synaphea grandis is a tufted shrub that typically grows up to high and has stems that are covered with soft hairs at first. The leaves are pinnatipartite, long and wide, on a mostly glabrous petiole long. The lowest one or two lobes of the leaves are also pinnatipartite, the end lobes lance-shaped to triangular wide. The flowers are yellow and borne in more or less crowded spikes up to long on a peduncle up to long. There are spreading, egg-shaped bracts long at the base of the peduncles. The perianth is curved, opens widely, the upper tepal long and wide, the lower tepal long. The stigma is more or less oblong, curved at the tip, long and wide. Flowering occurs in October and November and the fruit is oval and covered with soft hairs.
Taxonomy
Synaphea grandis was first formally described in 1995 by Alex George in the Flora of Australia from specimens he collected east of the Muchea turnoff from the Great Northern Highway on the Chittering road in 1971. The specific epithet means 'great', 'large' or 'tall'.
Distribution and habitat
This species of Synaphea grows on hills in Eucalyptus wandoo woodland in the Muchea-Bindoon area north of Perth in the Avon Wheatbelt, Jarrah Forest and Swan Coastal Plain bioregions of south-western Western Australia.
Conservation status
Synaphea grandis is listed as "Priority Four" by the Government of Western Australia Department of Biodiversity, Conservation and Attractions, meaning that is rare or near threatened.