Hakea tephrosperma
Species of plant
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Hakea tephrosperma, commonly known as hooked needlewood,[2] is an Australian shrub or small tree species in the family Proteaceae. It has cream flowers, needle-shaped leaves and is one of the taller species in its genus, adaptable for dry to temperate locations.
| Hakea tephrosperma | |
|---|---|
| |
Scientific classification  | |
| Kingdom: | Plantae |
| Clade: | Embryophytes |
| Clade: | Tracheophytes |
| Clade: | Spermatophytes |
| Clade: | Angiosperms |
| Clade: | Eudicots |
| Order: | Proteales |
| Family: | Proteaceae |
| Genus: | Hakea |
| Species: | H. tephrosperma |
| Binomial name | |
| Hakea tephrosperma | |
Description
Hakea tephrosperma is a large upright multi-stemmed shrub or small tree growing to 8 m (26 ft) high and forms a lignotuber. The smaller branches are rusty coloured with flat silky hairs or may be densely covered with short white, woolly, soft matted hairs. The needle-shaped leaves are smooth 3–8 cm (1–3 in) long, 1–1.8 mm (0.04–0.07 in) wide and ending in a small curved hook 0.8–2 mm (0.03–0.08 in) long. The inflorescence has a short red-brown stalk 1–3 mm (0.039–0.12 in) long, covered in fine soft hairs. The inflorescence consists of 6–22 flowers, each individual flower has a stalk 3.5–7 mm (0.1–0.3 in) long. The pedicel and perianth are white and red-brown with fine soft matted hairs. Racemes of cream flowers appear in the leaf axils between September and October. The egg-shaped fruit are mostly smooth 2–3 cm (0.8–1 in) long and 1.5–2 cm (0.59–0.79 in) wide, occasionally with small blister-like protuberances. The fruit ending with blunt conspicuous horns up to 2 mm (0.08 in) long.[3][4]
Taxonomy and naming
Hakea tephrosperma was first formally described in 1830 by botanist Robert Brown in Supplementum primum prodromi florae Novae Hollandiae.[5][6] The specific epithet (tephrosperma) is derived from the Ancient Greek words tephros meaning "ash-coloured"[7]: 382 and sperma meaning "seed"[7]: 694 referring to the colour of the seed.
Distribution and habitat
Hooked needlewood is a widespread species occurring in drier areas of Queensland, New South Wales, Victoria and South Australia. It grows in open spinifex and blue-bush (Maireana species) shrubland as an individual tree or in dense thickets on coarse soils.[4] The hooked needlewood is an adaptable species for dry to temperate locations but rarely seen in cultivation.[3]