A flowering Silky Oak,Grevillea robusta,growing as a street tree in Melbourne,Victoria,Australia,photographed in December. The picture shows flowers (orange) and retained seed pods (brown,centre),together with the feathery foliage (green) G. robusta is a member of the family Proteaceae,native to Queensland and NSW,Australia. Pollination is affected by birds,including honeyeaters and brush-tongued parrots. G. robusta is frost sensitive. In cooler regions,such as Western Europe,it will rarely survive to flowering maturity in open ground. Small plants are however often used in annual bedding schemes for their attractive fern-like foliage |