page_title: Telopea speciosissima
section_title: Cultivars
hierarchical_section_title: Telopea speciosissima / Cultivation / Cultivars
caption_attribution_description: Telopea 'Braidwood Brilliant' (cultivated, labelled), Royal Botanic Gardens, Cranbourne, Victoria, Australia
context_page_description: Telopea speciosissima, commonly known as the New South Wales waratah or simply waratah, is a large shrub in the plant family Proteaceae. It is endemic to New South Wales in Australia and is the floral emblem of that state. No subspecies are recognised, but the closely related Telopea aspera was only recently classified as a separate species.
  T. speciosissima is a shrub to 3 or 4 m high and 2 m wide, with dark green leaves. Its several stems arise from a pronounced woody base known as a lignotuber. The species is well renowned for its striking large red springtime inflorescences, each including hundreds of individual flowers. These are visited by the eastern pygmy possum, birds such as honeyeaters, and various insects.
  The floral emblem for its home state of New South Wales, Telopea speciosissima has featured prominently in art, architecture, and advertising, particularly since Australian federation. Commercially grown in several countries as a cut flower, it is also cultivated in home gardens, requiring good drainage yet adequate moisture, but is vulnerable to various fungal diseases and pests.
context_section_description: A number of natural variants of Telopea speciosissima have been selected for cultivation as follows:
  Telopea 'Brimstone Blush' is a shrub of smaller size than the species, reaching a metre (3 ft) tall, and was originally found growing on a property of Ben Richards in Oakdale, southwest of Sydney. Flowering takes place in October. The flowerhead is globular with a pink crown and has 160 individual flowers, the styles of which are pink and white towards the ends. Three rows of whorled dark red bracts surround the flowerheads.
  Telopea 'Cardinal' is a form originally found on the property of Lucille Pope in Werombi, from where it was propagated and made available commercially. The original plant was a vigorous specimen reaching 3 by 3 m (9.8 by 9.8 ft) and producing 100 to 120 flowerheads each year. It is named for its large dome-shaped cardinal red flowerheads, which bear 210 individual flowers and are surrounded by two rows of dark red bracts. These blooms have long vase life.
  Telopea 'Corroboree', a form with longer styles, has compact inflorescences measuring 12 cm (4.5 in) high and wide, and is a vigorous grower. It was selected for commercial propagation in 1974 by Nanette Cuming of Bittern, Victoria, and registered with the Australian Cultivar Registration Authority in 1989. It is grown principally for the cut flower industry.
  Telopea 'Fire and Brimstone' is a vigorous form with large inflorescences selected by waratah grower and author Paul Nixon of Camden, New South Wales. It is a shrub which may reach 3–4 m tall and 2 m wide, with large leaves with more heavily toothed margins. Each flowerhead is cone-shaped and has up to 240 florets. The stigmas are a light red and tipped with white. The bracts surrounding the flowerheads are relatively small, while the leaves are large and can reach 44 cm (17.5 in) in length. The cultivar is thought to be tetraploid. With a long vase life of 17 days, the cultivar is suitable for the cut flower industry.
  Telopea 'Galaxy' has flowerheads with pinkish red tepals and white tips to the styles, surrounded by large bracts.
  Telopea 'Olympic Flame' is a form with prominent bracts around the flowerheads. It has large leaves with toothed margins and flowers in early spring. Also known as 'Sunburst', it arose as a seedling in a breeding program conducted by Cathy Offord, Peter Goodwin and Paul Nixon under the auspices of the University of Sydney.
  Telopea 'Parry's Dream' was a chance seedling in the early 1970s. It gave rise to this cultivar, a vigorous plant with red-pink flowerheads which reach a diameter of 10 cm × 10 cm (4 in × 4 in) surrounded by pink bracts.
  Telopea 'Shade of Pale' is an unusual pale-pink flowered form of T. speciosissima. It is less vigorous than the parent plant. It was initially promoted as 'Light Shade of Pale' but there can only be three words in a registered cultivar name.
  Telopea 'Sunflare' is an early-flowering form. It has large leaves with toothed margins and flowers in early spring. It also arose as a seedling in the same breeding program by the University of Sydney mentioned above. Selected in 1981, it has red flowerheads with white-tipped styles which reach 9 cm (3.5 in) in diameter.
  Telopea 'Wirrimbirra White' is a white form from Kangaloon near Robertson. Aboriginal legends of white waratahs existed, and several had been encountered, but none had been previously preserved in horticulture. Joseph Maiden had previously found a white waratah near Kurrajong, and others had been sighted near Narara on the Central Coast in 1919, and Colo Vale in the 1950s. Horticulturalist Frank Stone reported one in his garden, possibly propagated from the latter plant. 'Wirrimbirra White' was brought into cultivation in 1972 by cuttings from the original plant, which grew on water catchment property. It has pale greenish buds which open to a cream-white inflorescence. It is less vigorous than the parent species and vulnerable to borers. It is also highly vulnerable to the Macadamia twig girdler.
  In addition, a number of interspecific Telopea hybrids have also been produced. T
caption: Telopea 'Braidwood Brilliant'
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