Grevillea flexuosa


Grevillea flexuosa, commonly known as zigzag grevillea or tangled grevillea, is an endangered shrub endemic to Western Australia.

Description

It grows as an irregular shrub up to two metres high, with few branches and no lignotuber. Flowers are cream or yellow and occur in inflorescences typical of Grevillea.

Taxonomy

This species was first published as Anadenia flexuosa by John Lindley in his 1839 A Sketch of the Vegetation of the Swan River Colony, based on unspecified material. Lindley referred to it there as "a singular species, allied to A. pulchella, with most curious zigzag leaves". In 1845, Anadenia was demoted to a section of Grevillea by Carl Meissner, and this species was thus transferred to Grevillea as Grevillea flexuosa Meisn.. It has since had a fairly uncomplicated taxonomic history, the only incident being the publication by George Bentham in 1870 of a variety, G. flexuosa var. pauciloba, which was subsequently found to be a taxonomic synonym of G. synapheae.

Distribution and habitat

It occurs only within a small area east of Perth, in the Jarrah Forest biogeographic region. The soil of area is red-brown sand over laterite or granite.

Ecology

It has been gazetted as "rare" under Western Australia's Wildlife Conservation Act 1950, and "vulnerable" under the federal Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation Act 1999.