Kuntze[1] Telopea oreades, commonly known as the Gippsland-, mountain- or Victorian waratah, is a large shrub or small tree in the family Proteaceae.

Native to southeastern Australia, it is found in wet sclerophyll forest and rainforest on rich acidic soils high in organic matter.

In the garden, T. oreades grows in soils with good drainage and ample moisture in part-shaded or sunny positions.

Telopea oreades grows as a large shrub or narrow tree 9–19 m (30–62 ft) high with a trunk reaching 45 to 60 cm (18 to 24 in) in diameter.

[5] They have a sunken midrib on the upperside (and corresponding ridge on the underside) with four to six pairs of lateral veins visible at a 45 degree angle to the midline.

[7] It can be difficult to distinguish T. oreades from T. mongaensis though the leaves of the latter species are more prominently veined,[13] and mostly (but not always) narrower than 2 cm (0.79 in) wide.

[13] The Gippsland waratah was first formally described by the Victorian Government Botanist Ferdinand von Mueller in 1861 in Fragmenta Phytographiae Australiae.

[1] The type material was collected in rugged mountainous country around Nungatta Creek, a tributary of the Genoa River in south-eastern New South Wales.

[13] However, a genetic study using microsatellites found there was extensive hybridisation, with much of the presumed pure T. oreades showing a close relation to T. mongaensis.

[9] The genus lies in the subtribe Embothriinae, along with the tree waratahs (Alloxylon) from eastern Australia and New Caledonia, and Oreocallis and Chilean firetree (Embothrium coccineum) from South America.

[21][22] Almost all these species have red terminal flowers, and hence the subtribe's origin and floral appearance must predate the splitting of Gondwana into Australia, Antarctica, and South America over 60 million years ago.

[23] Telopea oreades occurs in moist forests and temperate rainforests of coastal ranges and tableland escarpments in two disjunct areas of southeastern Australia.

[3][5] There are unconfirmed reports of the species in the vicinity of Brown Mountain and Glenbog State Forest in southern New South Wales, which lie between the two areas.

[15] Associated tree species in Victoria include shining gum (Eucalyptus nitens),[15] messmate (E. obliqua), mountain grey gum (E. cypellocarpa), cut-tail (E. fastigata), silvertop ash (E. sieberi), southern sassafras (Atherosperma moschatum), black oliveberry (Elaeocarpus holopetalus),[12] blanket leaf (Bedfordia arborescens), Australian blackwood (Acacia melanoxylon), privet mock‐olive (Notelaea ligustrina),[24] banyalla (Pittosporum bicolor), Errinundra plum pine (Podocarpus sp.

[15] Telopea oreades is not listed under Commonwealth environmental legislation and is not considered by respective state authorities to be rare or threatened in Victoria or New South Wales.

[30] Conversely in New Zealand, there is a report of T. oreades escaping into kanuka scrub from the trout hatchery gardens on the Tongariro River south of Lake Taupō.

[31] The prominent position and striking colour of Telopea oreades and many of its relatives within the subtribe Embothriinae—both in Australia and South America—strongly suggest it is adapted to pollination by birds, and has been for over 60 million years.

[34] T. oreades has a swollen woody base largely under the soil known as a lignotuber, which stores energy and nutrients as a resource for rapid growth after a bushfire.

The seed also germinates and grows in post-bushfire soil, which is higher in nutrients and more open with fewer competing plant species.

Propagation is by seed, the germination rates of which fall significantly after several months' storage unless refrigerated, or by cuttings of new growth that has just hardened.