Plants of South Eastern New South Wales
Grevillea arenaria
Common name
Sand grevillea (subsp. arenaria), Hoary grevillea (subsp. canescens)
Family
Proteaceae
Where found
Dry forest, woodland, shrubland, rocky areas, and near streams. Widespread from north of Narooma to Kosciuszko National Park. On the Western Slopes mainly north of the area covered by this key.
subsp. arenaria: Mostly coast, ranges, and tablelands, north from the Moruya district. Rarely elsewhere. Nnaturalised in the ACT.
subsp. canescens: Ranges and tablelands west of the Sydney area and south to Wollongong. Kosciuszko National Park. Rarely elsewhere.
Notes
Shrub to 4 m high. Leaves alternating up the stems, 1.5–7.5 cm long, 3–15 mm wide, margins entire and curved to rolled down, lower surface hairy, upper surface somewhat silky to hairless, granular. Flowers with 4 'petals' joined together in pairs, 'petals' red, pink or orange, often green or yellow at the base, sparsely to densely hairy outside, bearded usually above the middle inside. Gynoecium 22–32 mm long, style greenish, hairy. Flowers in clusters of 1–10 flowers. Flowering all year, especially spring.
In the absence of specific information, seeds of all species of Grevillea have been keyed as having one wing.
subsp. arenaria: lower surface of the leaves tomentose or covered in short shiny appressed hairs or long shaggy hairs. Gynoecium 22–27 mm long.
Occasionally hybridises with Grevillea rosmarinifolia subsp. rosmarinifolia, Grevillea lanigera, and Grevillea mucronulata.
All native plants on unleased land in the ACT are protected.
subsp. canescens: lower surface of the leaves velvety with short soft erect hairs. Gynoecium 26–32 mm long.
PlantNET description of species and key to subspecies: http://plantnet.rbgsyd.nsw.gov.au/cgi-bin/NSWfl.pl?page=nswfl&lvl=sp&name=Grevillea~arenaria (accessed 19 January, 2021)
This identification key and fact sheets are available as a free mobile application:
