Citation: Smith, Sp. Bot. New Holl. 5 (1793).

Derivation: Greek tetra, four; theke, case; the 4 anther-loculi.

Synonymy: Not Applicable

Common name: Pink-eyes.

Description:
Perennial shrubs to c. 1 m high, though often 20 cm or less, compact or diffuse, usually with numerous stems arising from a woody often rhizomatous branched root stock; stem terete with vertical ridges, usually pubescent with hairs of more than one kind though never stellate, branching often infrequent; leaves usually alternate, usually less than 2 cm long.

Flowers usually subtended by minute bracts; peduncles often dark-coloured; sepals 4 or 5, usually dark-coloured, generally narrowly to broadly ovate, obtuse to acuminate, deciduous; petals alternating with the sepals, each in bud longitudinally folded to enclose 2 stamens, usually deep-lilac-pink, occasionally paler pink or white; anthers with 2 narrow loculi arranged in front of a broader outer pair; ovary rarely glabrous, usually wholly or partly pubescent below a filiform style; ovules 1 or 2 in each cell.

Capsule to 1 cm long, flattened; seeds 2-4 mm long, obovoid to cylindrical, brown and smooth, with fine hairs; adaxial appendage cream.

Distribution:  39 species endemic to southern Australia. Generally restricted to sandy or gravelly soils in heath and sclerophyll forest. (J. Thompson (1976) Telopea 1:139-215.)

Biology: No text

Key to Species:

1. Flowers 5-merous; plants with a generally leafless aspect, thoughsome leaves may be present	T. halmaturina 2.
1. Flowers 4-merous; stems leafy
2. Ovules 2 in each cell; calyx conspicuously reflexed	T. ciliata 1.
2. Ovules 1 in each cell; calyx not reflexed
3. Peduncles 1 cm or more long in mature flower and much longer than the leaves	T. insularis 3.
3. Peduncles c. 1 cm long or less and never much longer than the leaves	T. pilosa 4.

Author: Not yet available