The remarkable family Proteaceae, which is almost wholly confined to the southern hemisphere, contains but few species that can be cultivated out-of-doors in the British Isles with any chance of survival, and many of these belong to Grevillea. This genus is most abundantly represented in the Australian subcontinent but extends to New Caledonia and the Celebes. The species described here show well the characteristic flower structure of the family. The floral envelope is not differentiated into calyx and corolla but consists of a perianth (‘calyx-tube’) made up of four valvate segments which are more or less united in the bud stage but separate as the flowers develop. The four stamens are placed opposite the perianth segments, and in Grevillea they are united to them, the anthers being sessile and inserted in the concave ends of the segments. The fruits in Grevillea are pod-like and contain one or two seeds.
Propagation is by means of half-ripened shoots taken about July, and placed in a frame with a little bottom heat. They enjoy a proportion of peat in the soil and are not suitable for limy soils.
The genus was named by Robert Brown in honour of Charles Francis Greville (1749-1809), once a Vice-President of the Royal Society, to whom the botanists of his period were ‘indebted for the introduction and cultivation of many rare and interesting plants’.
From the Supplement (Vol. V)
For a note by A. D. Schilling on the species grown in the open ground in Britain, see The Plantsman, Vol. 6 (3), pp. 134-6 (1984).