This conservation advice was approved by the Minister / Delegate of the Minister on 3 July 2008 Approved conservation advice (s266B of the Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation Act 1999) Approved Conservation Advice for Grevillea scortechinii subsp. scortechinii (Black Grevillea)
This Conservation Advice has been developed based on the best available information at the time this conservation advice was approved.
Description Grevillea scortechinii subsp. scortechinii, Family Proteaceae, also known as the Black Grevillea, is a low spreading shrub, which is usually a groundcover but sometimes grows up to 1.5 m high. Its leaves are stiff and papery with sharply toothed edges and its flowers are black and green. The Black Grevillea is distinguishable from the Backwater Grevillea (G. scortechinii subsp. sarmentosa) by its longer pistil and stipe length, papery not leathery leaf texture, and leaves that only ever have primary divisions, as opposed to secondary divisions that sometimes occur in G. scortechinii subsp. sarmentosa.
Conservation Status The Black Grevillea is listed as vulnerable. This subspecies is eligible for listing as vulnerable under the Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation Act 1999 (Cwlth) (EPBC Act) as, prior to the commencement of the EPBC Act, it was listed as vulnerable under Schedule 1 of the Endangered Species Protection Act 1992 (Cwlth). The subspecies is also listed as vulnerable under Schedule 2 of the Threatened Species Conservation Act 1995 (NSW) and the Nature Conservation Act 1992 (Queensland).
Distribution and Habitat The Black Grevillea is known from four sites in a limited locality near Stanthorpe, Queensland (Dodd, 1991); three in the Cottonvale area, 16 km north of Stanthorpe and the fourth at Blue Mountain, 5 km east of Stanthorpe. The total number of plants is not known, although Dodd (1991) measured subsamples of about 350 plants at two locations and counted about 190 seedling at a third site. This species occurs within the Border Rivers Maranoa–Balonne (Queensland) Natural Resource Management Region. The Black Grevillea occurs in sclerophyll woodland or remnant roadside associations in granitic, sandy-loamy soils (Olde & Marriott, 1995; Makinson, 2000). It occurs chiefly on flats and lower slopes (including slopes below rocky outcrops), and does not extend into poorly drained areas (Dodd, 1991). Dodd (1991) identified several habitats in Queensland where the plants were restricted to roadside verges, occupied by remnants of a dry sclerophyll forest, and railway verges, or grassland with scattered shrub species, with some occurrences on private land. The railway verges are maintained as grassland by low intensity annual burning; these burns are patchy and therefore individual plants may escape annual immolation. The distribution of this species overlaps with the “White Box-Yellow Box-Blakely’s Red Gum Grassy Woodland and Derived Native Grassland” EPBC Act-listed threatened ecological community.
Threats The main identified threat to Black Grevillea is land clearing for pasture and orchard development (Leigh, Boden & Briggs, 1984). Grevillea scortechinii subsp.scortechinii Conservation Advice - Page 1 of 3 This conservation advice was approved by the Minister / Delegate of the Minister on 3 July 2008 The main potential threats to Black Grevillea include activities associated with roadsides and private land, such as roadside burning, grading, clearing and weed invasion (Leigh, Boden & Briggs, 1984; Dodd, 1991; Quinn et al., 1995).
Research Priorities Research priorities that would inform future regional and local priority actions include: • Design and implement a monitoring program. • More precisely assess population size, distribution, ecological requirements and the relative impacts of threatening processes. • Undertake survey work in suitable habitat and potential habitat to locate any additional populations/occurrences/remnants. • Undertake seed germination and/or vegetative propagation trials to determine the requirements for successful establishment.
Regional and Local Priority Actions The following priority recovery and threat abatement actions can be done to support the recovery of Black Grevillea. Habitat Loss, Disturbance and Modification • Monitor known populations to identify key threats. • Monitor the progress of recovery, including the effectiveness of management actions and the need to adapt them if necessary. • Identify populations of high conservation priority. • Ensure road widening and maintenance activities (or other infrastructure or development activities as appropriate) in areas where Black Grevillea occurs do not adversely impact on known populations. • Control access routes to suitably constrain public access to known sites on public land. • Minimise adverse impacts from land use at known sites. • Investigate formal conservation arrangements such as the use of covenants, conservation agreements or inclusion in reserve tenure. Invasive Weeds • Identify and remove weeds in the local area, which could become a threat to Black Grevillea, using appropriate methods. • Ensure chemicals or other mechanisms used to eradicate weeds do not have a significant adverse impact on Black Grevillea. • Manage sites to prevent introduction of invasive weeds, which could become a threat to Black Grevillea, using appropriate methods. Fire • Develop and implement a suitable fire management strategy for Black Grevillea. • Identify appropriate intensity and interval of fire to promote seed germination or vegetation regeneration. • Provide maps of known occurrences to local and state rural fire services and seek inclusion of mitigative measures in bush fire risk management plans, risk register and/or operation maps. Conservation Information • Raise awareness of Black Grevillea within the local community, especially among landowners and road/rail maintenance staff. Enable Recovery of Additional Sites and/or Populations • Undertake appropriate seed collection and storage.
Grevillea scortechinii subsp.scortechinii Conservation Advice - Page 2 of 3 This conservation advice was approved by the Minister / Delegate of the Minister on 3 July 2008 • Investigate options for linking, enhancing or establishing additional populations. • Implement national translocation protocols (Vallee et al., 2004) if establishing additional populations is considered necessary and feasible.
This list does not necessarily encompass all actions that may be of benefit to Black Grevillea, but highlights those that are considered to be of highest priority at the time of preparing the conservation advice.
Existing Plans/Management Prescriptions that are Relevant to the Species • The Stanthorpe Shire Planning Scheme (Stanthorpe Shire Council, 2005). This prescription was current at the time of publishing; please refer to the relevant agency’s website for any updated versions.
Information Sources: Dodd, I 1991, The Ecology and distribution of Grevillea scortechinii, University of Queensland. Leigh, J, Boden, R & Briggs, J 1984, Extinct and Endangered Plants of Australia, Macmillan, Melbourne. Makinson, RO 2000, ‘Proteaceae 2 – Grevillea’, Flora of Australia, vol. 17A, pp. 1-524, ABRS/CSIRO Melbourne. Olde, PM & Marriott, NR 1995, The Grevillea Book; Volume Three, Kangaroo Press, Kenthurst, NSW. Quinn, F, Williams, JB, Gross CL & Bruhl J 1995, Report on rare and threatened plants of north-eastern New South Wales, University of New England, Armidale. Stanthorpe Shire Council 2005, Stanthorpe Shire Planning Scheme, viewed 14 March 2008,
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