Silky oak

Grevillea robusta

"Grevillea robusta", commonly known as the southern silky oak, silk oak or silky oak, silver oak or Australian silver oak, is a flowering plant in the family Proteaceae. It is a tree, the largest species in its genus but is not closely related to the true oaks, "Quercus". It is a native of eastern coastal Australia, growing in riverine, subtropical and dry rainforest environments.
Australian silver oak Our Australian silver oak is one of the most popular ornamental native trees here. Also commonly called silky oak or silk oak. Native to the eastern coast here in Australia, Grevillea robusta is a tree that can grow to 40 m in height. It has dark grey, furrowed bark, green fern-like foliage and stunning yellow-orange flowers. The flowers are arranged in one-sided, 'toothbrush-like' groups, 12–15 cm in length. Flowering occurs September to November. https://www.jungledragon.com/image/103891/australian_silver_oak.html https://www.jungledragon.com/image/104575/australian_silver_oak_trunk_detail.html Australia,Australian silky oak,Geotagged,Grevillea robusta,Proteaceae,Proteales,Silky oak,Spring,botany,flora,new south wales,silk oak,tree,yellow flowers

Appearance

"Grevillea robusta" is a fast-growing evergreen tree with a single main trunk, growing to 5–40 m tall. The bark is dark grey and furrowed. Its leaves are fern-like, 10–34 cm long, 9–15 cm wide and divided with between 11 and 31 main lobes. Each lobe is sometimes further divided into as many as four, each one linear to narrow triangular in shape. It loses many of its leaves just before flowering.

The flowers are arranged in one-sided, "toothbrush"-like groups, sometimes branched, 12–15 cm long. The carpel of each flower has a stalk 21–28 mm long. The flowers are glabrous and mostly yellowish orange, or sometimes reddish. Flowering occurs from September to November and the fruit that follows is a glabrous follicle.
Australian silver oak Our Australian silver oak is one of the most popular ornamental native trees here. Also commonly called silky oak or silk oak. Native to the eastern coast here in Australia, Grevillea robusta is a tree that can grow to 40 m in height. It has dark grey, furrowed bark, green fern-like foliage and stunning yellow-orange flowers. The flowers are arranged in one-sided, 'toothbrush-like' groups, 12–15 cm in length. Flowering occurs September to November. https://www.jungledragon.com/image/103891/australian_silver_oak.html https://www.jungledragon.com/image/104575/australian_silver_oak_trunk_detail.html Australia,Australian silky oak,Flora,Geotagged,Grevillea robusta,Proteaceae,Proteales,Silky Oak,Silky oak,Spring,botany,new south wales,silk oak,spring,tree,yellow flowers

Naming

"Grevillea robusta" was first formally described in 1830 by Robert Brown after an unpublished description by Allan Cunningham. The type specimen was collected by Cunningham on the eastern edge of Moreton Bay in 1827. Brown's description was published in "Supplementum primum Prodromi florae Novae Hollandiae". The specific epithet is a Latin word meaning "strong like oak" or "robust".
Australian silver oak trunk detail Our Australian silver oak is one of the most popular ornamental native trees here. Also commonly called silky oak or silk oak. Native to the eastern coast here in Australia, Grevillea robusta is a tree that can grow to 40 m in height. It has dark grey, furrowed bark, green fern-like foliage and stunning yellow-orange flowers. The flowers are arranged in one-sided, 'toothbrush-like' groups, 12–15 cm in length. Flowering occurs September to November. https://www.jungledragon.com/image/103929/australian_silver_oak.html https://www.jungledragon.com/image/103891/australian_silver_oak.html https://www.jungledragon.com/image/109350/australian_silver_oak.html Australia,Australian silky oak,Flora,Geotagged,Grevillea robusta,Proteaceae,Proteales,Silky Oak,Silky oak,Spring,Tree,botany,new south wales,silk oak,spring

Distribution

Silky oak occurs naturally on the coast and ranges in southern Queensland and in New South Wales as far south as Coffs Harbour where it grows in subtropical rainforest, dry rainforest and wet forests. It is now relatively rare in its natural habitat but has been widely planted, including on Norfolk Island and Lord Howe Island. It has become naturalised in many places, including on the Atherton Tableland in Australia and in South Africa, New Zealand, Hawaii, French Polynesia, Jamaica and Florida. It is regarded as a weed in parts of New South Wales and Victoria, as "invasive" in Hawaii and as an "invader" in South Africa.
Australian silver oak Unfortunately, I had to crop a lot of this magnificent tree due to my file being over 15MB. Our Australian silver oak is one of the most popular ornamental native trees here. Also commonly called silky oak or silk oak. Native to the eastern coast here in Australia, Grevillea robusta is a tree that can grow to 40 m in height. It has dark grey, furrowed bark, green fern-like foliage and stunning yellow-orange flowers. The flowers are arranged in one-sided, 'toothbrush-like' groups, 12–15 cm in length. Flowering occurs September to November. https://www.jungledragon.com/image/103929/australian_silver_oak.html https://www.jungledragon.com/image/104575/australian_silver_oak_trunk_detail.html https://www.jungledragon.com/image/109350/australian_silver_oak.html Australia,Australian silky oak,Flora,Geotagged,Grevillea robusta,Proteaceae,Proteales,Silky oak,Spring,Tree,botany,new south wales,silk oak,silky oak,yellow flowers

Defense

The flowers and fruit contain toxic hydrogen cyanide. Tridecylresorcinol in "G.robusta" is responsible for contact dermatitis.
Silk Oak - Grevillea robusta Australia,Grevillea robusta,New South Wales,Plant,Silk Oak,Sydney

Uses

Before the advent of aluminium, "Grevillea robusta" timber was widely used for external window joinery, as it is resistant to wood rot. It has been used in the manufacture of furniture, cabinetry, and fences. Owing to declining "G. robusta" populations, felling has been restricted.

Recently "G. robusta" has been used for side and back woods on guitars made by Larrivée and others, because of its tonal and aesthetic qualities.

References:

Some text fragments are auto parsed from Wikipedia.

Taxonomy
KingdomPlantae
DivisionAngiosperms
ClassEudicots
OrderProteales
FamilyProteaceae
GenusGrevillea
SpeciesG. robusta
Photographed in
Australia