Telopea oreades
Telopea oreades, commonly known as the Gippsland-, mountain- or Victorian waratah, is a large shrub or small tree in the family Proteaceae. Native to southeastern Australia, it is found in wet sclerophyll forest and rainforest on rich acidic soils high in organic matter. Reaching a height of up to 19 metres, T. o reades grows with a single trunk and erect habit. It has dark green leaves with prominent veins that are 11–28 centimetres long and 1. 5–6 cm wide.
About Telopea oreades in brief
Telopea oreades, commonly known as the Gippsland-, mountain- or Victorian waratah, is a large shrub or small tree in the family Proteaceae. Native to southeastern Australia, it is found in wet sclerophyll forest and rainforest on rich acidic soils high in organic matter. Reaching a height of up to 19 metres, T. o reades grows with a single trunk and erect habit. It has dark green leaves with prominent veins that are 11–28 centimetres long and 1. 5–6 cm wide. The red flower heads, known as inflorescences, appear in late spring. Each is composed of 36 to 60 individual flowers with green to pink bracts, which may be up to 3 cm long. The timber is hard and has been used for making furniture and tool handles. The name is said to be derived from the Ancient Greek oreosain, which means a mountain relating to a mountain in New South Wales, or a mountain of ore. It can be difficult to distinguish T. oreades from T. mongaensis though the leaves of the latter species are more prominently veined and mostly than 2cm wide.
T. Oreades flowers around a month earlier than T. Mongaensis in areas where both are present in the area where both species are present. The species was first formally described by the Victorian Government in 1861 in Fragmentary Phytographiae Australiae. The type material was collected in rugged country around Nungunga Creek, a tributary of the Genoa River in south-eastern NSW. Several commercially available cultivars that are hybrid forms with T. Speciosissima have been developed, such as the ‘Shady Lady’ series. The leaves are narrow-obovate to spathulate, and measure 11 cm long and 1 5 cm wide, and have a sunken midrib on the upperside with four to six pairs of lateral veins visible at a 45 degree angle to the midline. The ovary lies at the base of the style and atop a stalk known as a gynophore, and it is from here that the seed pods then develop. After flowering, the curved leathery to woody follicles develop; these are 5 to 7. 5cm long, which somewhat resemble a boat in shape.
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This page is based on the article Telopea oreades published in Wikipedia (as of Oct. 29, 2020) and was automatically summarized using artificial intelligence.
