The conservation status and contemporary threats to wild Grevillea populations is a regular topic at Grevillea study group meetings. While a huge diversity of species are represented in public, private and Grevillea Study Group living collections, significant threatening processes continue to impact on the long term survival of many wild Grevillea populations. To provide an overview, and some insight into the conservation status of grevilleas nationwide, a project was commenced in 2025 to collate a full list of all rare and threatened grevilleas that are listed under state and national legislation. During the compilation and analysis of this national list, the following key issues were identified:

• 140 Grevillea species are now listed (or recommended for listing) at the state and national level.
• There is now good standardisation of conservation status categories at the state and national level.
• There are considerable time lags in the listing of individual Grevillea species at a state and national level, and in particular newly described species.
• In states such as Western Australia, there are Grevillea species that are at high risk of extinction due to extremely low population numbers which are not always accurately reflected in state conservation listings. An additional conservation status category is proposed by the Study Group for these species, which are at immediate risk of extinction and urgent in situ/ex situ conservation actions are required.

Category A (additional Study Group recommended category) – Critically endangered with immediate threat of extinction in the wild – less than 10 plants in one location – very high conservation priority with immediate ex situ/in situ conservation actions required.

Category B – Critically endangered – low in numbers with extremely high threat of extinction in the wild in the immediate future.

Category C – Endangered – very high risk of extinction in the wild in the near future

Category D – Vulnerable – high risk of extinction in the wild in the medium term future

Category X – Presumed extinct and not observed or collected in recent decades

Recommended Conservation Status

The Study Group’s recommendations as at June 2026 are available at this link.