Grevillea robusta
Habit | tree
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Height: | ⇕ | 60 ft"ft" can not be assigned to a declared number type with value 60. |
Width: | ⇔ | 30 ft"ft" can not be assigned to a declared number type with value 30. |
Lifespan: | ⌛ | perennial |
Origin: | ✈ | Australia |
Poisonous: | ☠ | flowers, fruit poisonous |
Bloom: | ❀ | early spring, mid spring, late spring, early summer, mid summer, late summer |
Exposure: | ☼ | sun |
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Features: | ✓ | flowers |
USDA Zones: | 8 to 12 | |
Flower features: | ❀ | orange, yellow |
robusta > |
Grevillea robusta, commonly known as the southern silky oak or Silky-oak, or Australian Silver-oak, is the largest species in the genus Grevillea. It is a native of eastern coastal Australia, in riverine, subtropical and dry rainforest environments receiving more than 1,000 mm per year of average rainfall. It is a fast growing evergreen tree, between 18-35 m tall with dark green delicately dented bipinnatifid leaves reminiscent of a fern frond. It is the largest plant in the Grevillea genus, reaching diameters in excess of one metre. These leaves are generally 15-30 cm long with greyish white or rusty undersides. Its flowers are golden-orange bottlebrush-like blooms, between 8-15 cm long, in the spring, on a 2-3 cm long stem and are used for honey production. The seeds mature in late winter to early spring, fruiting on dark brown leathery dehiscent follicles, about 2 cm long, with one or two flat, winged seeds.
When young it can be grown as a houseplant where it can tolerate light shade, but prefers full sun as it grows best in warm zones. If planted outside, young trees need protection on frosty nights. Once established it is hardier and tolerates temperatures down to about −8 °C (17 °F)[1]. It needs occasional water but is otherwise fairly drought-resistant.
Grevillea robusta is often used as stock for grafting difficult-to-grow grevilleas.
Care needs to be taken when planted near bushland as it can be weedy.
The flowers and fruit contain toxic hydrogen cyanide.[2] Tridecylresorcinol in G.robusta is responsible for contact dermatitis.[3]
ExpandRead about Grevillea robusta in the Standard Cyclopedia of Horticulture
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Species
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References
- Standard Cyclopedia of Horticulture, by L. H. Bailey, MacMillan Co., 1963
External links
- w:Grevillea robusta. Some of the material on this page may be from Wikipedia, under the Creative Commons license.
- Grevillea robusta QR Code (Size 50, 100, 200, 500)
- ↑ "Garden Guides: Silkoak".
- ↑ Everist, S.L., Poisonous Plants of Australia, Angus & Robertson, 1974.
- ↑ Menz, J., Rossi, R., Taylor, W.C, Wall, L., Contact dermatitis from Grevillea'Robyn Gordon', Contact Dermatitis, Vol. 15, Iss. 3, pp 126-131, Apr 2006