Grevillea robusta

Systematic Classification:

Division   : Angiospermae 
Class      : Dicotyledons
Order      : Porteales
Family     : Proteaceae.
Genus      : Grevillea
Species    : robusta

Common Name:

Southern silky oak, silk oak or silky oak, silver oak or Australian silver oak.

General Information:

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.Grevillea robusta is a fast-growing evergreen tree with a single main trunk, growing to 5–40 m (20–100 ft) tall. The bark is dark grey and furrowed. Its leaves are fern-like, 10–34 cm (4–10 in) long, 9–15 cm (4–6 in) 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 (5–6 in) long. The carpel (the female part) of each flower has a stalk 21–28 mm (0.8–1 in) 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.

Economic Importance:

• 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.