Grevillea alpina
Lindl. Mountain GrevilleaSpreading to almost prostrate shrub 0.3–2 m high. Leaves entire, oblong to elliptic, rarely almost round or linear, 0.5–3 cm long, 1.5–10 mm wide; upper surface villous to glabrous and granulate; lower surface villous, rarely subsericeous or glabrous; margin recurved to revolute (more so on narrower leaves). Conflorescences terminal or axillary, decurved to erect, 2–many-flowered, usually simple, 1–3.5 cm long, subsecund to subglobose; rachises 2–10(–18) mm long, tomentose to villous; perianth either a single colour, cream, green, yellow, orange, pink or red, but more often a combination of these, often paler in apical or dorsal half, saccate at base, outer surface tomentose to villous or almost glabrous, inner surface bearded; tepals often keeled or horned near apex; pistil 8.5–20.5 mm long, ovary sessile, densely white-villous, style reddish, villous near base, loosely tomentose towards the apex, pollen presenter lateral. Fruits 8.5–12 mm long, 5–6 mm wide, villous or loosely so, longitudinally ridged. Flowers mostly late winter to early summer.
Wim, VVP, VRiv, MuF, GipP, Gold, CVU, GGr, DunT, NIS, EGU, HSF, HNF, Strz, VAlp. Also NSW, ACT. Widely distributed in Victoria, from near Albury and Mt Beauty and lower parts of the Mt Buffalo area south to the Dandenongs and west through the 'Goldfields' area to the Grampians and Black Range. Grows in a variety of well-drained sites, including in dry sclerophyll forest or woodland, heath, or mallee; usually on sandy soils, sometimes on granitic hills or slopes.
The nectary is very conspicuous, often almost perpendicular to the pedicel, and protruding into the perianth pouch. Grevillea alpina varies greatly in habit, foliar features, inflorescence posture and flower number, and floral characters including colour. Many local forms have informal names in botany and horticulture. Olde & Marriott (1995a) group these into 5 major forms, although these are variable and do not accommodate all populations.
Grampians form (type form)-large-leaved, with a few large bright flowers in erect conflorescences.The perianth lacks the dense indumentum of many other forms.
Small-flowered form (including McGillivray's (1993) '2-flowered race') (Canberra to Albury to Beechworth and Chiltern)-conflorescences usually 2-flowered subterminally aggregated, styles short (8.5–9.5 mm long).
Northern Victorian form (Warby, Fryers and Strathbogie Ranges)-open habit and larger leaves and flowers than previous.
Goldfields form (central and western gold-fields)-dense habit to 1 m high, foliage crowded, leaves small grey hairy, conflorescences conspicuous pendent, flowers usually 1-coloured.
Southern Hills form (north-west, north and east of Melbourne, Lerderderg Gorge, Mt Slide to Kinglake and the Dandenongs)-open shrubs to 2 m high, leaves rounded, racemes short with red and cream flowers, and a prostrate form from Wombat state Forest north-west of Bacchus Marsh. In the wild, hybrid populations have been recorded with a number of species, including Grevillea dryophylla around Bendigo, G. lavandulacea in the Black Range of the Grampians, G. lanigera inthe Mt Beauty area, and with cultivated form of G. rosmarinifolia at McDonald Park, near Ararat.
Similar to Grevillea celata and G. chrysophaea.
Makinson, R.O. (1996). Grevillea. In: Walsh, N.G.; Entwisle, T.J., Flora of Victoria Vol. 3, Dicotyledons Winteraceae to Myrtaceae, pp. 845–870. Inkata Press, Melbourne.
SpinningOlde, P.; Marriott, N. (1995). The Grevillea Book. Kangaroo Press, Kenhurst, NSW, Australia.
