Photo © P.Kennedy

Synonymy

Hakea maconochieana Haegi, Fl. Australia 17B: 396 (1999)

T: Ambathala Range, 50 km E of Adavale, Qld, 5 Apr. 1981, C.Sandercoe 507; holo: BRI, iso: AD.

Hakea sp. (Ambathala Range C.Sandercoe 507): Henderson, Queensland Plants Names and Distribution (1997).

Description

Erect or spreading shrub, 0.5–1.5 m tall, non-sprouting. Branchlets patchily appressed-pubescent at flowering. Leaves patchily sericeous, flat, thick, c. one-third as deep as wide, narrower across underside, narrowly linear, 7–13.5 cm long, 1.5–2.7 cm wide, 0.4–0.8 mm deep, finely ribbed, narrowly acute with ±blunt mucro, sericeous; veins prominent, 3–5 on upper side including marginal veins, 2 or 3 on underside.

Inflorescence with c. 100 flowers; rachis 3–3.5 cm long, densely hirsute; pedicels sparsely to moderately pubescent. Perianth red, sparsely appressed-pubescent. Pistil 15–18 mm long; gland obovoid.

Fruit 2–8 on elongated rachis, stalked, scarcely woody, obliquely narrowly ovate to elliptic, 1.4–1.7 cm long, 0.6–0.7 cm wide, slightly curved apically, not beaked, shortly apiculate, not keeled on ventral suture. Seed not seen; seed scar on valve angularly obliquely narrowly elliptic, 14–16 mm long, 6–7 mm wide; wing extending narrowly and partly down one side of body only.

Distribution and ecology

A very rare species known from scattered localities in the Ambathala Ra. and south-east of Quilpie, far south-western Qld. Grows in stony clay soil in scattered Acacia stowardii community.

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

Flowering specimens have been collected in most months between April and August but the main flowering month is recorded as Sept (See notes in Species Profile and Threats SPRAT database for this species).

Derivation of name

Named after John Maconochie (1941-1984), botanist in charge of the Alice Springs Herbarium from 1967 to 1984. He had an interest in Hakea, particularly the group to which this species belongs, and published several new species.

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Relationships

Part of Sect. Conogynoides recognised by Bentham (1870) and characterised by a conical pollen presenter, veined leaves, glabrous perianth and fruits without horns.

Within this section 6 species were assigned to the informal Multilineata group by Barker et al. (1999). This group of Hakea species is usually referred to as the 'grass-leaf Hakeas' because they have long linear flat leaves with longitudinal striations. All but one species are floriferous and have red flowers and long pistils, suggesting bird pollination. Fruits are erect. H. minyma has much shorter pistils and cream flowers.

Species in the group are H. bucculenta, H. francisiana, H. grammatophylla, H. minyma, H. maconochieana and H. multilineata. The monophyly or otherwise of the group has still to be tested.

Conservation status

This species was recognised, under Hakea sp. 1 (Mariala Scientific Reserve; C.Sandercoe), as 'Vulnerable' in J.D.Briggs & J.H.Leigh, Rare or Threatened Australian Plants (1995).

See the listing of H. maconochieana as a Vulnerable species under the Australian Government's Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation Act 1999 (EPBC Act).

H. maconochieana: approved conservation advice (approved Oct. 2008).

H. maconochieana is classified as vulnerable underQueensland’s Nature Conservation (Wildlife) Regulation 2006

Representative specimens

Qld: Ambathala Ra., R.W.Purdie 2121 (CANB).

Weblinks

More photographs of this species can be seen on the Australian National Botanic Gardens site.

Further illustrations

J.W.Wrigley & M.Fagg, Banksias, Waratahs & Grevilleas 403 (1989), as Hakea sp. nov. (Quilpie).

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