Grevillea obtecta, commonly known as Fryerstown grevillea, Elphinstone grevillea or Taradale grevillea,[1] is a species of flowering plant in the family Proteaceae and is endemic to Victoria in Australia. It is a prostrate, clumping or straggling shrub with pinnatifid, pinnatipartite or toothed leaves, and toothbrush-like clusters of light green to yellowish and purplish to black flowers with a dull yellow to pink style.
Grevillea obtecta is a prostrate, clumping or straggling shrub that typically grows up to high, wide and has shaggy- to woolly-hairy branchlets. The leaves are usually egg-shaped to oblong in outline, long, wide and pinatifid or pinnatipartite with 2 to 21 lobes, or toothed, the end lobes or teeth triangular to narrowly egg-shaped and sometimes sharply-pointed, long and wide. The flowers are arranged in toothbrush-like clusters on a rachis long and are light green to yellowish on the outside and purplish to black inside with a dull yellow to pink style, the pistil long. Flowering occurs from August to November and the fruit is a silky-hairy follicle long.[2] [3]
Grevillea obtecta was first formally described in 1985 by Bill Molyneux in the journal Muelleria from specimens collected near Taradale in 1977.[4] The specific epithet (obtecta) means "covered over" or "protected", referring to the large bracts that cover and protect the immature flowers.[5]
Fryerstown grevillea occurs in dry sclerophyll forest between Fryerstown and the north of Daylesford. It is found on the south faces of gravelly slopes.
This species is listed as "endangered" under the Victorian Government Flora and Fauna Guarantee Act 1988 and as "Rare in Victoria" on the Department of Sustainability and Environment's Advisory List of Rare Or Threatened Plants In Victoria.[6]
