Grevillea arenaria subsp. arenaria

Nepean Spider Flower at Watson, ACT

Request use of media

Identification history

Grevillea arenaria subsp. arenaria	17 Jun 2022	Tapirlord
Grevillea arenaria	23 Aug 2021	MichaelMulvaney
Grevillea arenaria	23 Aug 2021	waltraud

Identify this sighting

Please Login or Register to identify this sighting.

User's notes

Most in the 1m-1.5m tall category; invading Mt Majura's Grassy Woodland from Federal Highway plantings.

9 comments

waltraud wrote:

30 Aug 2021

Grevillea arenaria is listed Exotic in the ACT Census of Vascular Plants; see below Census listing:
Grevillea arenaria subsp. arenaria PROTEACEAE Exotic [Aust] 2014 R.W.Purdie 9342 Sand Grevillea
I thought CNM follows the Census?

Apart from the question of whether or not the species is exotic, there are groves of G. arenaria and non-local Acacia sp (as well as Acacia sp listed local in ACT but that are according to my expert advice not naturally occurring on Mt Majura i.e. A. buxifolia) invading Mt Majura northern slopes and changing the critically endangered grassy woodland into something else but grassy woodland. The source of the invasion is the planting along Federal Highway.

waltraud wrote:

5 Jun 2022

hi moderators
please see my comment above. Also the ACT Weed officer monitored the grove of these Grevillea as weeds!
Could you please change the status from local to introduced?
Also, the Census of vascular plants lists only G. arenaria subsp. arenaria (and not G. areanaria or G. arenaria subp.).
Thanks Waltraud

Tapirlord wrote:

5 Jun 2022

Hi Waltraud,
I'll leave it up to MichaelM to make a call here, but I think that status as it stands is ok. Our project covers a good amount of NSW so I think that should also be taken into account as you can find natuarlly occuring plants around Goulburn, tallanganda and the Bugonia area. Its obviously not ideal, but there are other examples of species which are technically weedy in the ACT being listed as locally native because of a southern tablelands distribution.

Regarding the Names, there seems to be two sets of Grevillea arenaria subsp arenaria, which is some kind of hiccup in the system. But I think we should keep the broader name and just reconfirm this sighting as subsp arenaria if that is technically correct. There are a few other subspecies of Grevillea arenaria Australia wide, so I think global taxonomy will thank us later for keeping both "G.arenaria" and "G.arenaria sub arenaria".

waltraud wrote:

5 Jun 2022

Many thanks Tapirlord
I follow the Census in both the status and the naming of species as well as consulting our local botanist in reg to natural occurance. Best wishes
w

Tapirlord wrote:

5 Jun 2022

Absolutely, I think CNM tries to stay current with the ACT plant census and the Atlas of living Australia, but that is often difficult so its just a case of forging the best path through. Obviously in this case the Grevilleas are weedy and need to be managed, so it's important that this is recognised and not just thrown under assumption of "locally native".

Perhaps confirming this under subsp arenaria as per the census, and writing a note in the species page (about its weedy status in the ACT) is a good compromise??

@michaelb I think there is a duplicate of "Grevillea arenaria subsp arenaria" in global taxa. :)

michaelb wrote:

6 Jun 2022

Thanks Ciaran

waltraud wrote:

17 Jun 2022

hi team. I just saw the subp has been removed thanks for that
I talked again to a botanist who confirmed the Grevillea arenaria (subsp arenaria) species is not local
those growing on Mt Majura's north slope grassy woodland have certainly escaped from the Federal Highway plantings along with the non-local Knife-leaf Wattle, Snowy River Wattle and other Australian species which don't belong to the ACT and particularly not to the grassy woodlands .....

Tapirlord wrote:

17 Jun 2022

Hi Waltraud, I've changed the ID on this sighting and made a note on the species page regarding the invasive potential of this species in the ACT. I hope this is a good compromise?

waltraud wrote:

19 Jun 2022

many thanks :-)

Please Login or Register to comment.