Grevillea laurifolia

Grevillea laurifolia is a prostrate, trailing shrub that can attain a diameter of {{cvt|4.5|m}}. Its leaves are egg-shaped to elliptic, sometimes heart-shaped or round, {{cvt|25–160|mm}} long and {{cvt|25–60|mm}} wide on a petiole {{cvt|6–28|mm}} long. The leaves sometimes have wavy edges, and the lower surface is silky-hairy. The flowers are arranged on one side of a rachis {{cvt|20–80|mm}} long and are reddish to deep maroon, the style with a green to yellow tip, and the pistil {{cvt|13–25|mm}} long. Flowering mainly occurs from September to January with a peak in November, and the fruit is a woolly-hairy follicle {{cvt|9.0–9.5|mm}} long.{{cite web |title=Grevillea laurifolia |url=https://profiles.ala.org.au/opus/foa/profile/Grevillea%20laurifolia |publisher=Australian Biological Resources Study, Department of Agriculture, Water and the Environment: Canberra |access-date=12 June 2022}}{{cite journal |author1=Benson, Doug |author2=McDougall, Lyn |year=2000 |title=Ecology of Sydney Plant Species Part 7b: Dicotyledon families Proteaceae to Rubiaceae |journal=Cunninghamia |volume=6 |issue=4 |page=1061 |url=https://www.biodiversitylibrary.org/item/299412#page/1077/mode/1up |access-date=24 June 2024 }}{{cite journal |last1=Olde |first1=Peter |title=Grevillea laurifolia subsp. caleyana Olde (Proteaceae:Grevilleoideae: Hakeinae), a new subspecies from the Blue Mountains of New South Wales, Australia |journal=Telopea |date=25 May 2015 |volume=18 |pages=97–108 |doi=10.7751/telopea8309|doi-access=free }}

Grevillea laurifolia was first formally described in 1827 by Kurt Polycarp Joachim Sprengel in Systema Vegetabilium from an unpublished manuscript by Franz Sieber.{{cite web|title=Grevillea laurifolia|url= https://id.biodiversity.org.au/instance/apni/511903|publisher=APNI|access-date=12 June 2022}} The specific epithet (laurifolia) means having leaves similar to species of Laurus.{{cite web |title=Grevillea laurifolia |url=http://anpsa.org.au/plant_profiles/grevillea-laurifolia/ |publisher=Australian Native Plants Society (Australia) |access-date=12 June 2022}}

In 2015, Peter M. Olde described two subspecies of G. laurifolia in the journal Telopea, and the names are accepted by the Australian Plant Census:

• Grevillea laurifolia subsp. caleyana Olde{{cite web|title=Grevillea laurifolia subsp. caleyana|url= https://biodiversity.org.au/nsl/services/apc-format/display/247629|publisher=Australian Plant Census|access-date=12 June 2022}} has leaves with an average blade length to width ratio more than 2.2:1, the pistils {{cvt|9.5–14|mm}} long.
• Grevillea laurifolia Sieber ex Spreng. subsp. laurifolia{{cite web|title=Grevillea laurifolia subsp. laurifolia|url= https://biodiversity.org.au/nsl/services/apc-format/display/247632|publisher=Australian Plant Census|access-date=12 June 2022}} has leaves with an average blade length to width ratio less than 2.2:1, the pistils {{cvt|17–25|mm}} long.

Subspecies laurifolia occurs in the Blue Mountains between Valley Heights and Wentworth Falls at altitudes between {{cvt|250 and 835|m}}. Subspecies caleyana is found mainly in the upper Blue Mountains between Wentworth Falls, Lithgow, Mount Werong, Wombeyan Caves and Mittagong between about {{cvt|500 and 1000|m}} above sea level. It grows in low-nutrient clay-, shale- and sand-based soils, either on ridges and slopes or in the vicinity of swampy areas. The habitat is open sclerophyll forest under such trees as silvertop ash Eucalyptus sieberi, Sydney peppermint (E. piperita), broad-leaved peppermint (E. dives, brittle gum (E. mannifera, red stringybark (E. macrorhyncha), brown barrel (E. fastigata) and alongside shrubs such as Mirbelia platyloboides, dense phyllota (Phyllota squarrosa), mountain geebung (Persoonia chamaepitys), myrtle geebung (P. myrtilloides) and stiff-leaf wattle (Acacia obtusifolia), or in more open woodland or heath associated with Faulconbridge mallee ash (Eucalyptus burgessiana), Blue Mountains mallee ash (E. stricta), scribbly gum (E. sclerophylla), and silver banksia (Banksia marginata).

Grevillea laurifolia adapts readily to cultivation provided it has good drainage and a sunny aspect. It can have difficulties at lower altitudes. Larger-leaved forms have been selected for horticulture and make attractive groundcover plants and can attract birds to the garden.*{{cite book |author1=Olde, Peter |author2=Marriott, Neil | year = 1995 | title = The Grevillea Book, vol 2 | publisher = Kangaroo Press | location = Sydney | isbn = 0-86417-326-1|pages = 228–29}} Grevillea 'Poorinda Royal Mantle' is a vigorous cultivar that was bred by Victorian plantsman Leo Hodge and registered in 1978; it is thought to be a hybrid between G. laurifolia and G willisii.{{Cite web |last1=Young |first1=David |date=29 April 2013 |orig-year=1979 |title=Grevillea 'Poorinda Royal Mantle' |url=http://www.anbg.gov.au/gnp/gnp9/grevillea-poorinda-rm.html |department=Growing Native Plants |website=Australian National Botanic Gardens |access-date=7 May 2014}} The most commonly cultivated subspecies is subsp. caleyana, because of its larger flowers.

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laurifolia

Category:Flora of New South Wales

Category:Plants described in 1827

Category:Taxa named by Kurt Polycarp Joachim Sprengel

Category:Proteales of Australia