#proteaceae

Hakea in green with birds - Wanda Comrie , 2025.

Australian , b. 1970s

We're taking a break from bryophytes this week to look at Grevillea rosmarinifolia (Proteaceae), aka the rosemary grevillea. And buckle in, because I have a *lot* of photos to share. The above is a mature, open flower while....

...these are opening flowers! This Grevillea is native to south-eastern Australia it is also a common horticultural plant, with a huuuuge variety of cultivars and hybrids in production.

Plants are usually a shrub of 0.3-2m with dense, and very prickly, foliage. Flowers are a typical Grevillea flower (they have tepals and a pollen presenter) with the wild forms being red-pink.

Flower buds are green instead of white. They change colour as they mature.

This specimen, which is from a plant growing on campus, also had pink pollen! Very exciting indeed. The pollen on this pollen presenter had the most perfect impression of the anthers I've ever seen.

Like, look at that. Gorgeous.

For those that don't know, Grevillea anthers dehisce pollen onto the pollen presenter before the flower fully opens.

And another reminder, Grevillea pollen is triangular!

Leucospermum 'Blanche Ito'

Well, spring is here, and the leucospermums are really putting on a show at the Ruth Bancroft Garden. This one is a hybrid named 'Blanche Ito'. Leucospermum is an African genus in the Protea Family, and while these plants are found in southeastern Africa, the majority come from the southwest in the winter-rainfall area. The flower heads feature long styles that extend outward, and this results in the common name "pincushions".

AKA rock grevillea or poker grevillea.

There are three subspecies, all endemic to the semi-arid SW. Two grow near granite, and the other in heaths, sandplains and scrubland. It may reach 4m in height.

Honey possum (Tarsipes rostratus) drinking nectar from candlestick banksia (Banksia attenuata) flowers in Western Australia

Hakea francisiana

05-SEP-2025