 Habitat, branches in foreground. Photo © W.R.Barker |
 Young shoots (hairy) and leaves. Photo © W.R.Barker |
 Inflorescences and leaves. Photo © W.R.Barker |
 Inflorescences and leaves. Photo © W.R.Barker |
 Note hairs on perianth. Photo © W.R.Barker |
 Open non-woody fruits. Photo © W.R.Barker |
Synonymy
Hakea fraseri R.Br., Suppl. Prodr. Fl. Nov. Holl. 26 (1830)
T: N.S.W., prope fl. Hasting's, 1818, C.Fraser 42 [Oxley's 2nd Exped.]; syn: A, BM.
Description
Shrub or small tree 1–6 m high, with 1–3 or more stems, lignotuberous. Branchlets off-white appressed-pubescent; very young shoots with shiny ferruginous appressed hairs over shining white hairs. Leaves simple, terete, ascending, variable in length along branches, longest on a branch (2–) 11–30 cm long, (0.8–) 0.9–1.4 mm wide, uncinate, ±glabrous.
Inflorescence axillary, with c. 25–50 flowers; rachis 9–25 mm long, red-brown tomentose over off-white appressed hairs; pedicels 3.5–8 mm long, with dense appressed white hairs extending onto perianth in bud, sparser on claw, denser on limb with age. Perianth recurved in mature bud, 6–8 mm long, cream-white. Pistil 17–26 mm long; gland deep purple; style curved; pollen presenter oblique.
Fruit 30–35 mm long, with long obscure beak c. 2/3 length of fruit; horns to 2 mm long; valves narrowly obovate-oblong, 10–12 mm wide; red-brown wood zone c. 1.2–2 mm wide; pale wood zone c. 4 mm wide. Seed occupying most of valve, 26–30 mm long, 8.5–10 mm wide; wing c. 1/3 way down one side of seed body only.
Distribution and ecology
Confined to the Macleay R. watershed in the New England Tableland, N.S.W., on well-drained, very steep scree slopes or on vertical rock faces in gorges.
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 Sept.–Oct.
Derivation of name
Named after Charles Fraser (?1788-1831), first Colonial Botanist and Superintendent of the Botanic Gardens in
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
Most characters in H. fraseri, for instance the leaf length and width, pedicel length, perianth length and fruit length and width, overlap with the lowest range for its closest relative H. lorea. However, H. fraseri can be distinguished by its shorter mature rachis and the seed occupying most of the valve.
Previously confused with H. lorea subsp. lorea in south-eastern Qld, this species is recognised as 'Vulnerable' in J.D.Briggs & J.H.Leigh, Rare or Threatened Australian Plants (1995).
Conservation status
See the current list of Hakea species gazetted in the Threatened Flora of the Australian Government's Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation Act 1999 (EPBC Act).
Hakea fraseri: approved conservation advice (approved Oct. 2008).
A profile of Hakea fraseri, otherwise known as Gorge Hakea, as a vulnerable species can be found on the Threatened Species site of the NSW Department of Environment & Conservation.
Representative specimens
N.S.W.: Oxley Wild Rivers Natl Park, Ridge Trail, c. 1 km S of Wollomombi Falls, W.R.Barker 5640, 5641 & I.R.Telford (AD); Oxley Wild Rivers Natl Park, c. 100 m downstream from Dangars Falls, on S side of gorge, W.R.Barker 5646 & H.Wissman (AD); Tia Falls, Oct. 1900, W.Forsyth s.n (B, M, MEL, NSW, NY); Dangars Falls, SE of Armidale, a little below top of gorge, Mar. 1966, H.Wissman s.n. (NE, NSW n.v.).
Weblinks
Link to PlantNET treatment for NSW.
Link to Maiden’s Forest Flora of New South Wales vol. 6, pl. 202 for an account and image of this species.
More photographs of this species can be seen on the Australian National Botanic Gardens site.
Further illustrations
J.H.Maiden, Forest Fl. New South Wales 6: no. 198, pl. 202 (1914);
W.R.Elliot & D.L.Jones, Encycl. Austral. Pl. 5: 207 (1990).