Calothamnus quadrifidus

The one sided bottlebrush flowers of Calothamnus are often hidden or sometimes close to the ground.

Calothamnus quadrifidus
(From the Greek kalos, beauty, and thamnos, a shrub)

Race 5 on Oaks Day at Flemington on Thursday of this week was for grey horses. The All Greys run over 1400m. was won this year by Outlandish Lad. Grey horses are beautiful and so are grey leaved shrubs.

The genus Calothamnus from Western Australia was first collected and described in 1806 by French explorer Jacques-Julien Houtou de Labillardiere in his Novae Hollandiae Plantarum Specimen. His name is more remembered for the lovely native grey tussock grass Poa labillardieri (and his name really does slip off the tongue after you say it a few times.)
While many Western Australian plants can be difficult to grow in the eastern states ,this one is fairly reliable and will tolerate a wide range of soil types. It copes well with cold and frost and just requires some occasional tip pruning to keep it in shape .Under favorable conditions it forms a well rounded shrub to 2 metres.