Telopea oreades

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Gippsland Waratah
Scientific classification
Kingdom: Plantae
(unranked): Angiosperms
(unranked): Eudicots
Order: Proteales
Family: Proteaceae
Genus: Telopea
Species: T. oreades
Binomial name
Telopea oreades
F.Muell.[1]

Telopea oreades, commonly known as the Gippsland-, Mountain- or Victorian Waratah, is a large shrub or small tree from southeastern Australia in the family Proteaceae.[1][2] It is a plant of wet forest and rainforest. Several cultivars that are hybrid forms with T. speciosissima have been developed, such as the 'Shady Lady' series, and are commercially available.

Description

Telopea oreades grows as a large shrub or narrow tree 9–19 m (30–65 ft) high with a trunk reaching 45 to 60 cm (18–24 in) in diameter. Greyish brown, the trunk is thin in relation to the tree's height and not buttressed. Its surface is smooth with horizontal lenticels and warty protuberances. Smaller branches are more brown and smooth.[3] Young plants have a much more erect habit than other members of the genus Telopea and their stems have a distinct reddish tinge.[4] The shiny dark green leaves are arranged alternately along the stems.[3] The leaves are narrow-obovate to spathulate, and measure 11 to 28 cm long and 1.5 to 6 cm wide.[2] They have a sunken midrib on the upperside (and corresponding ridge on the underside) with four to six pairs of lateral veins visible at a 45 degree angle to the midline. They veer and converge to form an easily seen vein which runs around 0.5 cm (0.2 in) inside the leaf margin. The undersurface is paler and greyer.[3] Flowering occurs between October and December in its native range, with plants at higher elevations flowering later than ones at lower altitude.[5] The crimson flowerheads, known as inflorescences, composed of 36 to 60 individual flowers with green to pink bracts,[2][6] which may be up to 3 cm (1.2 in) long.[4] These are followed by curved leathery to woody fruits that are 5 to 7.5 cm (2–3 in) long,[7][8] which somewhat resemble a boat in shape. These ripen the following May to September, and split open to reveal (and spill) 10-16 seeds. Arranged in two columns, the winged, flat brown seeds are around 1 cm (0.4 in) long with a roughly rectangular wing 3.5–4 cm (1.6-2.4 in) long.[3] New shoots often grow through flowerheads.[5]

It can be difficult to distinguish from T. mongaensis though the leaves of the latter species are more prominently veined.[9]

Taxonomy

The Gippsland Waratah was first formally described by botanist Ferdinand von Mueller in 1861 in Fragmenta Phytographiae Australiae, from material collected from Nungatta Creek.[1] Its species name is derived from the Ancient Greek oreos "mountain" and hence means "of or relating to a mountain".[3] The only alternative scientific name proposed was in 1891, when Otto Kuntze named it as Hylogyne oreades, but it was rejected as an illegitimate name.[10]

Telopea oreades is one of five species from southeastern Australia which make up the genus Telopea.[11] It has been difficult to distinguish from the similar T. mongaensis, but microscopic analysis has revealed that T. oreades has microscopic features termed sclereids while T. mongaensis does not.[9]

The genus lies in the subtribe Embothriinae, along with the tree waratahs (Alloxylon) from eastern Australia and New Caledonia, and Oreocallis and Chilean firetree (Embothrium coccineum) from South America.[12][13] Almost all these species have red terminal flowers, and hence the subtribe's origin and floral appearance must predate the splitting of Gondwana into Australia, Antarctica, and South America over 60 million years ago.[14]

Distribution and habitat

Flowering plant in Errinundra National Park

Telopea oreades occurs in moist forests and temperate rainforests of coastal ranges and tableland escarpments in two disjunct areas of southeastern Australia.[3] The first is centred on East Gippsland in Victoria, from Orbost to the vicinity of Eden across the border in far southeastern New South Wales. There is a more northerly population around the Monga Valley near Braidwood, New South Wales extending to Moss Vale.[2][3] Plants in Victoria are found at altitudes ranging from 200 metres in Lind National Park to 1300 metres on Mount Ellery.[7] Associated tree species in Victoria include Messmate (Eucalyptus obliqua), Mountain Grey Gum (Eucalyptus cypellocarpa), Cut-tail (Eucalyptus fastigata), Silvertop Ash (Eucalyptus sieberi), Southern Sassafras (Atherosperma moschatum) and Black Oliveberry (Elaeocarpus holopetalus).[8]

The species is known to produce hybrids with T. mongaensis where the two species occur together in the southern Monga Valley, although for the most part the species grow together there without hybridising.[9]

Ecology

The prominent position and striking colour of Telopea oreades and many of its relatives within the subtribe Embothriinae both in Australia and South America strongly suggest it is adapted to pollination by birds, and has been for over 60 million years.[14]

Cultivation and uses

developing flowerhead in bud

A selected white-flowered form from the Errinundra Plateau, which was originally known as 'Plateau View Alba' or 'Plateau View White' was registered by the Australian Cultivar Registration Authority in 1990 as 'Errindundra White'.[15] Plantsmen have also developed several hybrids with T. oreades, looking to combine the hardiness of this species with the showier flowerheads of the latter. Red, pink and even white flowered cultivars are available.

  • Telopea 'Champagne' is a cultivar registered under Plant Breeders Rights (PBR) in 2006.[16] Its creamy yellow flowerheads appear from October to December.[17] It is a three-way hybrid between T. speciosissima, T. oreades and the yellow-flowered form of T. truncata.
  • Telopea 'Golden Globe' is a cultivar registered under PBR in 2005.[18] Larger than 'Champagne', it is also a three-way hybrid between T. speciosissima, T. oreades and the yellow-flowered form of T. truncata. It has been propagated and sold as 'Shady Lady Yellow'. It was originally bred in the Dandenongs east of Melbourne.[17]
  • Telopea 'Shady Lady' is a larger shrub which may reach 5 m (16 ft) high and 2 or 3 m (6–10 ft) wide. A hybrid of T. speciosissima and T. oreades, it arose by chance in a Melbourne garden. The flowerheads are smaller and lack the bracts of the speciosissima parent. As its name suggests, it tolerates more shade.[19] It is vigorous and more reliable in temperate and subtropical areas, and grows in semi-shade or sun.[17] 'Shady Lady Crimson', 'Shady Lady Red' and 'Shady Lady Pink' are three selected commercially available colour forms.[20]
  • Telopea 'Shady Lady White' is a white hybrid between T. speciosissima and T. oreades.[20]

The timber is fairly hard and resembles silky oak (Grevillea robusta). It is durable, yet can be readily polished and worked with, and is amenable for use in furniture, picture frames and tool handles.[3]

References

  1. ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 "Telopea oreades". Australian Plant Name Index (APNI), IBIS database. Centre for Plant Biodiversity Research, Australian Government, Canberra. Retrieved 2009-10-09. 
  2. ↑ 2.0 2.1 2.2 2.3 "Telopea oreades". PlantNET - New South Wales Flora Online. Royal Botanic Gardens & Domain Trust, Sydney Australia. Retrieved 2009-10-09. 
  3. ↑ 3.0 3.1 3.2 3.3 3.4 3.5 3.6 3.7 Floyd, Alex G. (2008). Rainforest Trees of Mainland South-eastern Australia. The Channon, New South Wales: Treania Rainforest Publishing. p. 317. ISBN 978-0-9589436-7-3. 
  4. ↑ 4.0 4.1 Nixon, p. 28.
  5. ↑ 5.0 5.1 Nixon, p. 29.
  6. ↑ Cochrane, G.R.; Fuhrer, Bruce A..; Rotherdam, E.M.; Simmons, J.& M.; Willis, James H. (1980). Flowers and Plants of Victoria and Tasmania. A.H. & A.W. Reed. ISBN 0-589-50256-5. 
  7. ↑ 7.0 7.1 Corrick, M.G.; Fuhrer, Bruce A. (2001). Wildflowers of Victoria and adjoining areas. Melbourne, Victoria: Bloomings Books. ISBN 1-876473-14-2. 
  8. ↑ 8.0 8.1 Wild Plants of Victoria (database). Viridans Biological Databases & Department of Sustainability and Environment. 2009. 
  9. ↑ 9.0 9.1 9.2 Crisp, Michael D. ; Weston, Peter H. (1993). "Geographic and Ontogenetic Variation in Morphology of Australian Waratahs (Telopea: Proteaceae)". Systematic Biology 42 (1): 49–76. JSTOR 2992556. 
  10. ↑ "Hylogyne oreades (F.Muell.) Kuntze [ nom. illeg. ] nom. rej.". Australian Plant Name Index (APNI), IBIS database. Centre for Plant Biodiversity Research, Australian Government. 
  11. ↑ Crisp, Michael D.; Weston, Peter H. (1995). "Telopea". In McCarthy, Patrick (ed.). Flora of Australia: Volume 16: Eleagnaceae, Proteaceae 1. CSIRO Publishing / Australian Biological Resources Study. pp. 386–390. ISBN 0-643-05693-9. 
  12. ↑ Johnson, L. A. S.; Briggs, Barbara G. (1975). "On the Proteaceae: the evolution and classification of a southern family". Botanical Journal of the Linnean Society 70 (2): 83–182. doi:10.1111/j.1095-8339.1975.tb01644.x. 
  13. ↑ Weston, Peter H.; Barker, Nigel P. (2006). "A new suprageneric classification of the Proteaceae, with an annotated checklist of genera". Telopea 11 (3): 314–44. 
  14. ↑ 14.0 14.1 Nixon, p. 19.
  15. ↑ "Telopea 'Errinundra White'". Australian Cultivar Registration Authority. Retrieved 2009-10-09. 
  16. ↑ "Waratah (Telopea hybrid): Variety: 'Champagne'". IP Australia: Plant Breeders Rights website. IP Australia, Commonwealth of Australia. 2006. Archived from the original on 18 July 2008. Retrieved 13 February 2010. 
  17. ↑ 17.0 17.1 17.2 Elliot, Rodger W.; Jones, David L.; Blake, Trevor (2010). Encyclopaedia of Australian Plants Suitable for Cultivation: Volume 9 – Sp-Z. Port Melbourne: Lothian Press. pp. 200–03. ISBN 978-0-7344-0974-4. 
  18. ↑ "Waratah (Telopea hybrid): Variety: 'Golden Globe'". IP Australia: Plant Breeders Rights website. IP Australia, Commonwealth of Australia. 2006. Retrieved 13 February 2010. 
  19. ↑ Stewart, Angus (2001). Gardening on the Wild Side. Sydney: ABC Books. pp. 132–38. ISBN 0-7333-0791-4. 
  20. ↑ 20.0 20.1 "Other Varieties". Monbulk, Victoria: Proteaflora. 2010. Retrieved 7 April 2010. 

Cited texts

  • Nixon, Paul (1997) [1989]. The Waratah (2nd ed.). East Roseville, NSW: Kangaroo Press. ISBN 0-86417-878-6. 
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