Flowers in the library

Waratah

Telopea speciosissima

(plant family: Proteaceae)

Floral Emblem of New South Wales

Telopea speciosissima, was proclaimed the official floral emblem of New South Wales on 24 October 1962. Robert Brown (1773-1858) named the genus Telopea in 1810 from specimens collected in the Blue Mountains, west of Sydney. Sir James Smith (1759-1828), a noted botanist and founder of the Linnaean Society in England, wrote in 1793:

‘The most magnificent plant which the prolific soil of New Holland affords is, by common consent, both of Europeans and Natives, the Waratah. It is moreover a favourite with the latter, upon account of a rich honeyed juice which they sip from its flowers’.

The generic name Telopea is derived from the Greek ‘telopos‘, meaning ‘seen from afar’, and refers to the great distance from which the crimson flowers are discernible. The specific name speciosissima is the superlative of the Latin adjective ‘speciosus‘, meaning ‘beautiful’ or ‘handsome’. ‘Waratah’, the Aboriginal name for the species, was adopted by early settlers at Port Jackson.

Telopea is an eastern Australian genus of four species. Two are confined to New South Wales, one to Tasmania and one extends from eastern Victoria into New South Wales. Telopea belongs to the family, Proteaceae, which is predominantly Australian and southern African in distribution and includes genera such as Grevillea, Banksia, Macadamia and Hakea. Protea cynaroides, King Protea, is the official floral emblem of the Republic of South Africa.

The Waratah is a stout, erect shrub which may grow to 4 metres. The dark green leathery leaves, 13-25 cm in length, are arranged alternately and tend to be coarsely toothed. The flowers are grouped in rounded heads 7 to 10 cm in diameter surrounded by crimson bracts, about 5 to 7 cm long. It flowers from September to November and nectar-seeking birds act as pollinators. Large winged seeds are released when the brown leathery pods split along one side (Courtesy of Australian National Botanic Gardens at http://www.anbg.gov.au/emblems/nsw.emblem.html- accessed 13October 2010).