Dense to open, erect to low spreading shrub, 0.2–2.0 m tall. Leaves usually well-spaced along branchlets or occasionally tightly clustered on short lateral branchlets, strongly ascending to almost spreading, narrowly elliptic or narrowly oblong to linear or occasionally linear-subterete, 0.8–4.0 cm long, 0.8–3.0 mm wide, pungent or not; margins loosely recurved to tightly revolute; lower surface exposed and subsericeous to tomentose or rarely almost glabrous, or mostly or wholly enclosed by revolute margins and then 1-grooved. Flower colour: perianth dichromatic and basally pink and cream above, or monochromatic and pink to pinkish red or rarely yellow, pale green, cream or orange; style pink or matching perianth.

Flowers July–Dec.

Occurs in montane areas in south-eastern N.S.W., and patchily through much of inland Vic., from Gippsland SW to Melbourne area and W to Skipton and the Brisbane Ra.; also reportedly naturalised in S.A. (Lofty Ra.).

Grows in open eucalypt forest or woodland or in riparian shrub associations, on rocky slopes or near creeks.

Regenerates usually from seed, in some populations also from rhizomes.

N.S.W.: Germanton [now Holbrook], Oct. 1900, W. Forsyth NSW93009 (NSW); 2.3 km along Evens Rd from Oberon road (bear left at 1 km), Bindo Creek, R.O. Makinson 1579 (CANB); Lobs Hole, 9 Nov. 1961, M.E. Phillips CBG010690 (CANB).

Vic.: 8 km NE of Lara, in railway reserve, G.W. Carr 7161 (NSW); Moroka River below Mt Kent (c. 110 km NE of Traralgon), 13 Mar. 1966, J.H. Willis (MEL).

Subsp. rosmarinifolia is often very sporadic in occurrence, but where it does occur it is often gregarious. Even with the excision of subsp. glabella and G. divaricata, much variation in habit, foliage and flower colour remains. The 'type form' is a dense erect shrub with tomentose branchlets and greyish foliage, leaves 2–3 mm wide, recurved to loosely revolute leaf margins, and the subsericeous leaf lower surface mostly exposed on most leaves; it is still extant near the Type locality, on a tributary of the Coxs River E of Bathurst, N.S.W. Very similar populations survive in the Hampton and Tuglow River. areas. Forms with soft green leaves occur sporadically from the Blue Mountains S to Blowering. Horticultural selections made from some of these populations have naturalised in some areas (e.g. N of Goulburn, Canberra area). An 'Upper Lachlan River' form is a low shrub to c. 40 cm tall, with narrowly elliptic leaves, lower leaf surface variably exposed or enclosed, sparsely hairy branchlets and leaf lower surfaces, and flowers cream with touches of pink. The 'Lobs Hole form' occurs S of Tumut and has very strongly ascending crowded leaves 1.5–3 cm long, with fully revolute margins; except in leaf size it is morphologically similar to subsp. glabella. In eastern Vic., the 'Crooked River form' is a dense shrub to 2 m tall, with green linear leaves and dull pink and cream flowers. In central Vic., the 'Lara form' is known only from a small and now extinct population on basalt plains at Lara near Geelong; it is a low rhizomatous shrub to c. 40 cm tall, with bluish grey leaves, and may survive in cultivation. Similar, though more robust, populations occur elsewhere in central Vic. (Craigieburn, South Mandurang, Anakie area). The 'Whipstick form' from near Bendigo has a virgate habit with the leaves crowded on short lateral branchlets and also on longer branchlet internodes, short (c. 1 cm long), strongly ascending, and with the lower surface slightly exposed; flower colour varies from red or pink and cream, to pale green or cream or yellow; a similar variant with orange flowers occurs near Rushworth. The 'Whipstick form' is close morphologically and geographically to subsp. glabella. Grevillea rosmarinifolia apparently occasionally hybridises with G. lanigera, which normally has thicker obtuse hairy leaves with a villous to lanate lower surface, a rather linguiform nectary (cushion-like in G. rosmarinifolia), a densely villous ovary, and much hairier styles. Apparent morphological intermediates between G. rosmarinifolia and G. lanigera also occur in areas of eastern and central Victoria beyond the known range of G. lanigera (cf. Willis, 1973: 46, where a 'widespread riparian population' of such intermediates is referred to G. lanigera). These populations, where they still survive, need study; they may reflect a former distribution of G. lanigera, or deserve inclusion in a more broadly circumscribed G. rosmarinifolia. See note under G. lanigera, below.

L.F. Costermans, Native Trees Shrubs SE Australia 160, 161 (1981); W.R. Elliot & D.L. Jones, Encycl. Austral. Pl. 103 (1990); P.M. Olde & N.R. Marriott, Grevillea Book 3: 147 (top right & 117A), 148 (117B, C), 149 (117F) (1995); all as Grevillea rosmarinifolia.

Data derived from Flora of Australia Volumes 16 (1995), 17A (2000) and 17B (1999), products of ABRS, ©Commonwealth of Australia