Grevillea trifida is species of flowering plant in the family Proteaceae and is endemic to the southwest of Western Australia. It is a spiny, erect to low spreading shrub, usually with divided, variably-shaped leaves, and clusters of white to cream-coloured flowers.

Grevillea trifida
In the Australian National Botanic Gardens
Scientific classification Edit this classification
Kingdom: Plantae
Clade: Tracheophytes
Clade: Angiosperms
Clade: Eudicots
Order: Proteales
Family: Proteaceae
Genus: Grevillea
Species:
G. trifida
Binomial name
Grevillea trifida
Synonyms[1]
  • Anadenia trifida R.Br.
  • Grevillea brevicuspis Meisn.
Habit

Description

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Grevillea trifida is a spiny, erect to low, spreading shrub that typically grows to a height of 0.3–1.7 m (1 ft 0 in – 5 ft 7 in), its branchlets silky-hairy. The leaves are usually divided, 20–70 mm (0.79–2.76 in) long, sometimes linear to elliptic with 5 to 9 triangular teeth on the edges, or wedge-shaped with 3 to 5 lobes, the end lobes triangular to linear, 2–20 mm (0.079–0.787 in) long, 1–4 mm (0.039–0.157 in) wide. The leaf lobes are sharply pointed, and the edges of the leaves turned down to rolled under without concealing the lower surface. The flowers are arranged in leaf axils or on the ends of branches, in sometimes branched clusters, the clusters umbel-like on a woolly-hairy rachis 0.2–0.5 mm (0.0079–0.0197 in) long, the flowers nearer the tip of the rachis flowering first. The flowers are white to cream-coloured, the pistil 5.0–7.5 mm (0.20–0.30 in) long. Flowering mainly occurs from July to November, and the fruit is an oval to elliptic follicle 7.5–9.5 mm (0.30–0.37 in) long.[2][3][4]

Taxonomy

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This species was first formally described in 1810 by Robert Brown who gave it the name Anadenia trifida in Transactions of the Linnean Society of London.[5][6] In 1845, Carl Meissner transferred it to the genus Grevillea as G. trifida in Lehmann's Plantae Preissianae.[7][8]

The specific epithet (trifida) means "three-forked", referring to the leaves.[9]

Distribution and habitat

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Grevillea trifida grows in sandy or gravelly soils in jarrah forest, shrubland and in swampy places. It is widespread from Cape Naturaliste to near the Stirling Range in the Avon Wheatbelt, Esperance Plains, Jarrah Forest, Mallee, Swan Coastal Plain and Warren bioregions of south-western Western Australia.[2][3]

See also

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References

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  1. ^ a b "Grevillea trifida". Australian Plant Census. Retrieved 27 March 2023.
  2. ^ a b "Grevillea trifida". Australian Biological Resources Study, Department of Agriculture, Water and the Environment: Canberra. Retrieved 27 March 2023.
  3. ^ a b "Grevillea trifida". FloraBase. Western Australian Government Department of Biodiversity, Conservation and Attractions.
  4. ^ 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. 343. ISBN 0207172773.
  5. ^ "Anadenia trifida". APNI. Retrieved 27 March 2023.
  6. ^ Brown, Robert (1810). "On the Proteaceae of Jussieu". Transactions of the Linnean Society of London. 10 (1): 167. Retrieved 27 March 2023.
  7. ^ "Grevillea trifida". APNI. Retrieved 27 March 2023.
  8. ^ Meissner, Carl (1845). Lehmann, Johann J.G. (ed.). Plantae Preissianae. Vol. 1. Hamburg: Sumptibus Meissneri. p. 553. Retrieved 27 March 2023.
  9. ^ Sharr, Francis Aubi; George, Alex (2019). Western Australian Plant Names and Their Meanings (3rd ed.). Kardinya, WA: Four Gables Press. p. 327. ISBN 9780958034180.