Hakea pulvinifera
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
| Hakea pulvinifera | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Specimen in the ANBG | |
Scientific classification  | |
| Kingdom: | Plantae |
| Clade: | Tracheophytes |
| Clade: | Angiosperms |
| Clade: | Eudicots |
| Order: | Proteales |
| Family: | Proteaceae |
| Genus: | Hakea |
| Species: | H. pulvinifera |
| Binomial name | |
| Hakea pulvinifera | |
Hakea pulvinifera, also known as Lake Keepit Hakea, is a small, prickly shrub in the family Proteaceae, found only on one rocky hillside at Lake Keepit near Gunnedah in New South Wales, Australia. The species was first described in 1962, believed extinct in 1971 and rediscovered in 1988. The entire species may be of only one genetically unique individual. It is one of only two Hakea species that reproduce solely through basal shoots or 'suckering', reducing genetic variation.
Hakea pulvinifera is a shrub which grows to about 4 m (10 ft) high and has thick, tessellated bark. The leaves are 10 cm (4 in) long, divided into two to nine segments each 2–4 cm (0.8–2 in) long and 2 mm (0.08 in) wide, each ending in a sharp point. The flowers are arranged in groups of forty to fifty creamy-white and green flowers in leaf axils. Flowering occurs from September to November but the pollen grains are shrivelled and empty. Fruit have never been seen on plants of this species. This species only reproduces naturally through suckering and the entire population may consist of one or a few clones.[4][5] Fresh, fixed and dried flowers tested have been found to be sterile, with no evidence of viable pollen, suggesting that the species cannot reproduce from seed. Instead, they regenerate by suckering from roots running below the soil surface.[2][6]
Taxonomy and naming
This species was first formally described by Australian taxonomic botanist Lawrence Alexander Sidney Johnson in 1962 and the description was published in Contributions from the New South Wales National Herbarium.[7] The specific epithet is from the Latin pulvinus meaning "cushion", "pad" or "pillow"[8]: 608 and fero meaning "to bear" or "to carry"[8]: 187 referring to the swelling at the base of the leaf.[4]
Hakea pulvinifera was only discovered in 1949 from a single population but the species was not named until 1962. The population was visited again in 1966 and detailed information recorded; however, in 1971 a search based on the 1966 data failed to locate the species. It was proposed the species was extinct, the type population having been lost in the construction of a car park.[4][9] In 1988, a National Parks and Wildlife Service ranger, S.P. Morrison, "discovered" the species in a localised population on a steep hillside similar in features and aspect to the type locality, using information from Lawrence Johnson's original 1962 notes.[4] The "newly found" population is almost certainly the same one first recorded, despite certain differences in landmarks between this locality and that previously described. The identity of the population was confirmed by William Robert Barker.[6]
