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Grevillea rhyolitica (Deua Flame) - A moderately fast growing dense-growing shrub to 3 to 4 ½ feet tall and as wide with soft textured lance-shaped olive-green leaves, giving this plant a lush look that is atypical of many other grevillea. In late spring and early summer appear in abundance the beautiful pendant spikes of bright coral-red flowers. It can also sport flowers through much of the rest of the year.
Plant in full sun to light shade in a well-drained soil with occasional to very little irrigation. Tolerates inland heat and is frost hardy to at least 25° F - we thought this plant hardier but in our near frost free climate this is hard to test. Jo O'Connell of Australian Plant Nursery told us that her plant froze back but reprouted from the ground after cold nights below 25° F. It prunes back well and can be sheared as well so it makes a great small hedge, specimen plant, or potted specimen and the nectar-rich flowers are a great attraction for hummingbirds.
Grevillea rhyolitica has been classified as a Rare or Threatened Australian Plant due to its restricted range along the coast of New South Wales near Moruya in the Dampier State Forest and Deua National Park north of Melbourne where it occurs on shallow rhyolitic (volcanic) soils. It was formerly considered a subspecies of the very hardy Grevillea victoriae and was listed in Peter Olde and Neil Marriott's The Grevillea Book as Grevillea aff. victoriae sp. B Deua-Moruya. Olde and Marriott noted that the species (G. victorieae) was under revision when they published their book (1995 ) and while they did not include the name G. rhyolitica, they did note that this plant differed from all other forms of G. victoriae.
This plant was first sold in the US using the cultivar name 'Deua Flame' but as this plant is the typical form of the plant now described as Grevillea rhyolitica, "Deua Flame" should be used as its common name.
The genus name Grevillea honors Charles Francis Greville (1749-1809), a patron of botany, a very close friend of Sir Joseph Banks, and president of the Royal Society of London. The specific epithet comes from the rhyolite soil substrate that this plant is often growing on. We fell in love with this plant upon seeing it in 2009 at Terra Sol Nursery, a Santa Barbara retail nursery, and later purchased our stock plants from Monterey Bay Nursery. We liked this plant, but have found it hard to maintain in containers over summer in our climate and we discontinued growing it in 2013.
This information about Grevillea rhyolitica displayed is based on research conducted in our horticultural library and from reliable online resources. We also will relate observations made about it as it grows in our nursery gardens and other gardens we have visited, as well how the crops have performed in containers in our nursery field. We will also incorporate comments that we receive from others and we welcome hearing from anyone with additional information, particularly if they can share any cultural information that would aid others in growing it.
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