Grevillea 'Poorinda Royal Mantle'

Grevillea 'Poorinda Royal Mantle' nom. cult.

This prostrate cultivar is one of about forty cultivars produced by Mr Leo Hodge, of Victoria. It is said to be a hybrid between Grevillea laurifolia and G. willisii, a species from Mt Omeo in Victoria.

Grevillea laurifolia is a prostrate or trailing shrub which attains an overall spread of 6 m. Its leaves are undivided and between 50 and 130 mm long and about 40 mm wide. The flowers are dense, one-sided and red in colour. It occurs naturally in the higher Blue Mountains of New South Wales and adjacent valleys.

G. willisii is a large shrub with arching branches of greyish foliage growing to a height of about 2 m with a spread of about 3 m. It has pungent, deeply lobed leaves up to 100 mm long and about 55 mm wide at their broadest point. The flowers are creamy white in one-sided spikes and are borne in spring. This species occurs over a restricted area in eastern and north-eastern Victoria.

Grevillea 'Poorinda Royal Mantle' exhibits the prostrate habit of G. laurifolia, spreading over 6 m in two to three years. The leaves tend to be intermediate between the two parents, showing a range of shapes from undivided ('entire') to irregularly lobed. The undivided leaves measure up to 90 mm long by about 20 mm wide while the lobed leaves are about 100 mm long by about 40 mm wide at their widest point.

New growth is densely covered with silky hairs but as the leaves mature the upper surface loses these. The new foliage is coppery red in colour and most attractive. Dark red toothbrush-type flowers are borne terminally on short branchlets and occasionally opposite a leaf on the main stem. The red styles have conspicuous yellow stigmas.

Grevillea 'Poorinda Royal Mantle' is much quicker to establish than its prostrate parent G. laurifolia. As a result it is a good plant to choose when a large area is to be planted with a ground cover. No pests or diseases are known and the plant withstands frost without damage. The cultivar was registered with the Australian Cultivar Registration Authority in 1978.

Text by David Young - ANBG (1979)

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