The Black Grevillea
The Granite Belt, with its unique landscapes, soils and its high altitude is home to many rare and threatened species which includes the black grevillea. The black grevillea, Grevillea scortechinii subspecies scortechinii, is listed as critically endangered under both the State legislation Nature Conservation Act 1992 and the Federal Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation Act 1999. These listings provide a level of protection from land clearing that may otherwise be allowed under other legislation.
The black grevillea has a very restricted distribution as it is only found on the Stanthorpe Plateau where it grows in the very distinctive granitic, sandy-loamy soils. The majority of the plants now occur in highly disturbed cleared areas along roadsides and railroads and along drain lines. It is estimated there are only approximated 1200 individuals left in the wild.
The Threatened Species section of the Department of Environment and Science are working with the Stanthorpe Rare Wildflowers Consortium (SRWC) to produce a Recovery Action Plan for this critically endangered plant. The SRWC’s are undertaking survey work to further increase the knowledge about the plant’s population size and trends, distribution and threats. The Council is supporting this work through improving the knowledge in the community to assist in the conservation and recovery of the species.
The black grevillea has very distinct black flowers, is considered a prostrate to sprawling shrub to 0.8 m tall and 1.2 m across and is thought to be bird-pollinated, with its seeds possibly dispersed by ants. As its populations are almost entirely limited to road and rail reserves its highest threats are weed invasion, fungal leaf spot and habitat maintenance activities such as grading, slashing and herbicide spraying for line maintenance. However roadside slashing and low intensity fire may benefit black grevillea by reducing competition. There are no known black grevillea plants occurring in protected areas such as National Parks. If you think you have seen this species you can contact the SRWC (email: gbwildflowers@gmail.com) to advise of the location.
