Grevillea acanthifolia A. Cunn.

An evergreen plant 4 to 6 ft high; young shoots slightly angular and glabrous except for a few whitish hairs at first. Leaves 2 to 3 in. long, 1 to 11⁄4 in. wide, bipinnately lobed, the five or six primary lobes 1⁄2 to 3⁄4 in. long, reaching nearly to the midrib, again cut into three triangular lobes, each lobe ending in a stiff spine, dark dull green and glabrous except for a few pale hairs when young similar to those on the shoot; stalk 1⁄4 to 1⁄2 in. long. Inflorescence terminal or axillary, 11⁄2 to 3 in. long, with the closely packed flowers all on one side. Flowers dull pink, each about 1⁄2 in. long except for the long, strongly curved, glabrous style so characteristic of the grevilleas, which stands out 5⁄8 in. beyond the rest of the flower; they have no petals and the calyx is four-lobed, rather bellied below, the lobed part strongly curved. A feature of the inflorescence is the dense furnishing of silky white hairs that cover the flower-stalk, ovary, and calyx. Bot. Mag., t. 2807.

Native of the Blue Mountains, New South Wales, where it was found by Allan Cunningham in 1817; it was introduced soon after. It is evidently hardier than is generally supposed for it was grown out-of-doors at Nymans, near Handcross in Sussex, for a good many years until it perished in the winter of 1928–9. It flowers in May, and whilst the blossom is more curious than attractive, the much-divided, stiff, prickly foliage makes it a distinct and handsome evergreen.