They are highly variable, making a simple, diagnostic identification key for the subfamily essentially impossible to provide.

However, the Grevilleoideae are barely present in Africa, where almost all of Proteaceae taxa belong to the subfamily Proteoideae.

[1][page needed] The lone exception and only grevilleoid in Africa is the Brabejum tree of Cape Town.

Johnson and Barbara Briggs in their 1975 monograph "On the Proteaceae: the evolution and classification of a southern family".

Authority: Venk.Rao The nursery industry cultivates many Grevilleoideae species as barrier plants and for their prominent and distinctive flowers and foliage.