Grevillea speciosa

Grevillea speciosa is an erect shrub that typically grows to a height of 0.4–3 m (1 ft 4 in – 9 ft 10 in), its branchlets covered with silky to shaggy hairs. The leaves are elliptic to egg-shaped with the narrower end towards the base, or more or less circular, mostly 10–40 mm (0.39–1.57 in) long and 4–12 mm (0.16–0.47 in) wide with the edges turned down. The lower surface of the leaves is silky to softly-hairy. The flowers are arranged in large, downturned, dome-shaped to spherical clusters 20–40 mm (0.79–1.57 in) long, the flowers red, rarely pink or very rarely cream-coloured. The pistil is 25–35 mm (0.98–1.38 in) long and the style is gently curved. Flowering mainly occurs from July to October, and the fruit is an elliptic to narrowly oval follicle 12–20 mm (0.47–0.79 in) long.^[2][3][4][5]

This species was first formally described in 1809 by Joseph Knight who gave it the name Lysanthe speciosa in On the cultivation of the plants belonging to the natural order of Proteeae.^[6] In 1975, Donald McGillivray moved it to the genus Grevillea as Grevillea speciosa in the journal Telopea.^[7][8] The specific epithet (speciosa) means "showy".^[4]

Red spider flower grows on ridgetops and hillsides in moist heath, low woodland and forest in sandy soil from Gosford, Kulnura and Bucketty to just south of Port Jackson on the central coast of New South Wales.^[2][3][5]