 Habit. Alice Springs. Photo © I. Holliday |
 Habit. Alice Springs region. Photo © W.R.Barker |
 Inflorescence, atypically on trunk. Alice Springs region. Photo © W.R.Barker |
 Opened fruits and leaves. Alice Springs region. Photo © W.R.Barker |
Synonymy
Hakea divaricata L.A.S.Johnson, Contr. New South Wales Natl. Herb. 3: 93 (1962)
Based on Hakea intermedia Ewart & O.B.Davies, Fl. N. Terr. 86 (1917), nom. illeg., non Hook. (1842). T: 37 miles [59 km] E of Hermansburg, N.T., 21 Mar. 1911, G.F.Hill 108; syn: AD, MEL; Near Jay Gorge, Jay River, N.T., 21 Mar. 1911, G.F.Hill 111; syn: MEL; 60 miles [100 km] NE Camp 2, [Lander R., NE of Stuarts Bluff Ra.], N.T., s.d., G.F.Hill 287a; syn: AD, MEL.
Hakea ivoryi var. glabrescens J.M.Black, Trans. & Proc. Roy. Soc. S. Australia 61: 242 (1937). T: MacDonald Downs Stn, Fraser R., N.T., 4 Sept. 1930, J.Cleland s.n.; syn: AD; Crown Point, Finke R., N.T., 19 Aug. 1913, [S.A.]White s.n.; syn: AD.
[Hakea ivoryi auct. non F.M.Bailey: J.M.Black, Fl. S. Australia 2nd edn, 2: 264 (1948)]
[Hakea eyreana auct. non (S.Moore) McGill.: C.D.Boomsma, Native Trees S. Australia 261 (1981), p.p.]
Description
Tree or shrub to 6 m high, resprouting from base. Branchlets red, glabrous or sometimes sparsely (rarely densely) pubescent, glabrescent. Leaves compound, sometimes some simple, 7–20 cm long, sparsely pubescent, quickly glabrescent; final segments (1–) 3–13 (–16), 0.3–12 cm long, 0.8–2.3 mm wide, spreading, ±rigid, straight, rarely uncinate; undivided base 2.5–9 cm long.
Inflorescence axillary with 65–120 flowers; rachis 5–14 cm long, sparsely or sometimes densely pubescent with white or dirty brown hairs and/or glandular hairs, rarely glabrous, with indumentum similar on pedicel and perianth. Flowers cream to greenish yellow; pedicels 4–10 mm long. Perianth recurved in mature bud, 5.5–9 mm long. Pistil 21–26 mm long; style ±straight to slightly recurved; pollen presenter almost lateral.
Fruit 2.3–4 cm long, glabrous; valves ovate-oblong to ovate, often obliquely so, 0.8–1.4 cm wide; red-brown wood zone 0.5–7.5 mm wide; pale wood zone 3.5–6 (–7) mm wide; beak long, often curved. Seed occupying most of valve, 19–32 cm long, 7–11 mm wide; wing decurrent up to halfway down one side only.
Distribution and ecology
Occurs in arid central Australia, from far north-western S.A. into southern N.T. and neighbouring W.A., with outlying occurrences in the Pilbara and Great Sandy Desert, W.A., and south of Winton, central Qld; grows in woodland on red sand-plains around bases of hills and rockholes.
To plot an up to date distribution map based on herbarium collections for this species see Australia's Virtual Herbarium. Localities outside the native range may represent cultivated or naturalised records.
Flowering time
Flowers June–Nov.
Derivation of name
From divaricatus, Latin for spread apart, a reference to the spreading of the segments of the leaves of this species.
Relationships
Part of the group referred to as the Corkwoods (Grevilleoides p.p. of Bentham, Lorea group of Barker et al. 1999) because the bark of these plants is usually corky. Pollen presenters are usually not conical (except in H. ednieana ), leaf venation is obscure, inflorescences are long and floriferous and mostly pendent and many fruits are formed. These fruits are not particularly woody, are usually obscurely horned, not usually retained for a long time on the plant and the seed occupies most of the valve face.
Members of this group include H. chordophylla, H. divaricata, H. ednieana, H. eyreana, H. fraseri, H. ivoryi, H. lorea, H. macrocarpa and H. pulvinifera . They tend to occur in drier areas of Australia.
Notes
Long confused with H. ivoryi of arid regions of southern Qld and northern N.S.W., this species is distinguished by its subglabrous branchlets and thicker more robust leaves. Plants south of Ayers Rock, particularly in the ranges of north-western S.A., and in central Qld have generally fewer leaf segments than those to the north in N.T., and are often relatively long.
Representative specimens
W.A.: Warrabri Gorge 15 km NW of Giles, R.H.Kuchel 200 (AD). N.T.: 200 yards [c. 180 m] N of Connor Well, Stuart Hwy, D.J.Nelson 1506 (CANB, DNA). S.A.: c. 2 km by road NNE of Pipalyatjara-Putaputa road along road to Waltjitjata, Tomkinson Ra., W.R.Barker 3334 (AD). Qld: Carisbrooke Stn on Corys Range, SW of Winton, M.E.Ballingall (AD).
Weblinks
Link to SA eFlora treatment.
Link to FloraBase treatment of this species for WA.
More photographs of this species can be seen on the Australian National Botanic Gardens site.
Further illustrations
W.R.Barker in J.P.Jessop & H.R.Toelken (eds), Fl. S. Australia 4th edn, 1: 146, fig. 75A (1986);
J.W.Wrigley & M.Fagg, Banksias, Waratahs & Grevilleas 383 (1989), as H. eyreana ;
W.R.Elliot & D.L.Jones, Encycl. Austral. Pl. 5: 206 (1990)
I. Holliday, Hakeas. A Field and Garden Guide 68-9 (2005)
J.A..Young, Hakeas of Western Australia. A Field and Identification Guide 37 (2006)