Synonymy

Hakea bucculenta C.A.Gardner, J. Roy. Soc. W. Australia 22: 123 (1936)

T: 30 miles [50 km] north of the Murchison River to the south of Shark Bay, W.A., 29 Aug. 1931, W.E.Blackall & C.A.Gardner 2571; holo: PERTH.

Description

Rounded bushy shrub, 1.5–4 m tall, non-sprouting. Branchlets patchily appressed-pubescent to glabrescent at flowering. Leaves biconvex, narrowly linear, usually slightly falcate, 10–20 cm long, 1.9–2.8 mm wide, c. 1 mm deep, finely ribbed, narrowly acute with a weakly pungent mucro, glabrous; veins prominent, with midvein visible above and below and 2 usually fused veins along each margin.

Inflorescence with 250–450 flowers; rachis 8.5–13.5 cm long, glabrous; pedicels glabrous. Perianth bright red, glabrous. Pistil 18–21 mm long; gland a thick semi-annular collar.

Fruit 3–16 on elongated rachis, stalked or subsessile, woody, ovate, 1.7–2.5 cm long, 1–1.5 cm wide, distinctly divided into thick body and ±flat beak, scarcely or not apiculate, not keeled on ventral suture. Seed obliquely obovate, concave abaxially in lower half, 16–18 mm long, 7–9 mm wide; wing extending ±broadly down one side of body only, blackish brown to black.

Distribution and ecology

Occurs in south-western W.A., extending from Wannoo (near Hamelin Pool) south to Geraldton and inland to Mullewa. Grows in sand plain heath or mallee-heath in sand or clayey sand soil.

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 May–Oct.

Derivation of name

From bucculentus, Latin for full cheeks, a reference to the shape of the fruit of this 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.

Notes

One of the more commonly cultivated species of Hakea, but the brightly coloured inflorescences tend to be hidden as they are frequently borne in leaf axils on growth more than one season old. In cultivation H. bucculenta may hybridise with H. francisiana .

Representative specimens

W.A.: Yuna, c. 35 km E of Northampton, A.M.Ashby 1001 (AD); Indarra Siding, between Geraldton and Mullewa, W.E.Blackall 2779 (PERTH); 32 km S of Wannoo Roadhouse, C.H.Gittins 1550 (NSW, PERTH); East Yuna Reserve, c. 70 km NE of Geraldton, B.G.Muir 392 (PERTH).

Weblinks

Link to FloraBase treatment of this species for WA.

Link to the Australian Native Plants Society (Australia) pages on Hakea. This species is covered here with an image, cultivation notes and brief notes about it.

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 366 (1989);

J.Young, Hakeas of W. Australia, Botanical District of Avon 13, 32 (1997).

I. Holliday, Hakeas. A Field and Garden Guide 28-29 (2005)

J.A..Young, Hakeas of Western Australia. A Field and Identification Guide 19 (2006)

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