WorldFloraDB - Telopea speciosissima

Characteristics

Erect shrubs to 3 m tall, with 1-few stems, slender, sparingly branched, glabrous except at bract tips. Adult leaves narrowly obovate to narrowly spathulate, 8-28 cm long, 2-6.5 cm wide, serrate, with 1-3 teeth in basal halves of margins, rarely entire, tapered to very attenuate at base, coriaceous, but usually not harsh to the touch; apices acute to truncate; veins prominently raised; surfaces minutely granulate when dried due to sclereids in mesophyll. Intermediate leaves pinnatifid to pinnatisect. Conflorescences few, very broadly to depressed-ovoid, 90-240-flowered, 4-11 cm diam. (excluding bracts); anthesis acropetal; involucral bracts conspicuous, mostly 50-90 mm long, bright red, glabrous except tips. Flowers usually scarlet; pedicels 3-25 mm long; tepals 10-34 mm long, cohering along margins in a slit tube; style incurved. Body of follicle 8-15 cm long.

More

A medium sized shrub. It is tall, slender and rather stiff. It grows 2-3 m high. It spreads 1-2 m across. It has many stems. The leaves are broad and grey-green. They are leathery and have lobes. They have small teeth around the edge. The flower is large and bright red.

Life form

perennial

Growth form

shrub

Growth support

free-standing

Foliage retention

evergreen

Sexuality

hermaphrodite

Pollination

-

Spread

-

Mature width (meter)

1.5 - 2.0

Mature height (meter)

3.0

Root system

-

Rooting depth (meter)

-

Root diameter (meter)

-

Flower color

Blooming months

Jan	Feb	Mar
Apr	May	Jun
Jul	Aug	Sep
Oct	Nov	Dec

Fruit color

Fruiting months

-

Nitrogen fixer

-

Photosynthetic pathway

c3

Environment

It grows in temperate regions. It will also grow in the subtropics. It needs well drained soils. It can grow in full sun or light shade. It can stand light frosts. They do not like lime or alkaline soils. It suits hardiness zones 9-10.

More

Dry sclerophyll forests and sandstone soils. Grows in soils with sand on the surface and brown or yellow clay at depth over sandstone, in eucalypt forest with sclerophyll shrub understorey.

Grows in soils with sand on the surface and brown or yellow clay at depth over sandstone, in eucalypt forest with sclerophyll shrub understorey.

Light
Soil humidity
Soil texture
Soil acidity
Soil nutriment	-
Hardiness (USDA)

Usage

The flowers are sucked for their nectar. It can also be used to make a drink.

Uses	environmental use
Edible	flowers nectars
Therapeutic use	-
Human toxicity	-
Animal toxicity	-

Cultivation

Can be grown by cuttings or seedlings.

Mode	cuttings seedlings
Germination duration (days)	-
Germination temperacture (C°)	-
Germination luminosity	-
Germination treatment	-
Minimum temperature (C°)	-
Optimum temperature (C°)	-
Size	-
Vigor	-
Productivity	-