Hakea rhombales, commonly known as walukara,[2] is a shrub in the family Proteaceae. It has red, pink or purple flowers and is endemic to Western Australia and the Northern Territory.

Hakea rhombales
Hakea rhombales in Kings Park
Scientific classification Edit this classification
Kingdom: Plantae
Clade: Tracheophytes
Clade: Angiosperms
Clade: Eudicots
Order: Proteales
Family: Proteaceae
Genus: Hakea
Species:
H. rhombales
Binomial name
Hakea rhombales
Occurrence data from Australasian Virtual Herbarium
fruit
foliage

Description

edit

The bushy shrub typically grows to a height of 1.5 to 3 metres (5 to 10 ft) and is usually just as wide. It blooms from April to September and produces red-pink-purple flowers.

The branchlets and young leaves are appressed-pubescent with ferruginous hairs but otherwise glabrescent. The simple leaves are 6.5 to 23 centimetres (3 to 9 in) long and 1.6 to 1.9 mm (0.06 to 0.07 in) wide.

Inflorescence are erect and sometimes from old wood, they contain 10–16 flowers with simple rachis that are 7 to 11 mm (0.28 to 0.43 in) long. The inflorescence is glabrous or appressed-pubescent with pedicels approximately 6 mm (0.24 in) long.

The fruit are formed in an obliquely obovate shape, 2.2 to 3.5 cm (0.9 to 1.4 in) long and 1.6 to 2.3 cm (0.6 to 0.9 in) wide. The fruit are black-pusticulate with a toothed crest found on either side of suture.[3][4]

Taxonomy and naming

edit

Hakea rhombales was first formally described by the botanist Ferdinand von Mueller in 1876 in Fragmenta Phytographiae Australiae.[5][6] The name of the species is from the Latin word rhombus referring to the shape of the wing on the seed.[4]

Distribution and habitat

edit

Walukara has a scattered distribution through area in the Pilbara and the Goldfields regions of Western Australia where it is found on sand dunes, plains and hillsides growing in sandy or loamy soils.[3] Its range extends east into the Northern Territory to around the Petermann Range.[4][7]

Conservation status

edit

Hakea rhombales is classified as "not threatened" by the Western Australian Government Department of Parks and Wildlife.[3]

References

edit
  1. ^ "Hakea rhombales". Australian Plant Census. Retrieved 19 September 2019.
  2. ^ "King Park in June". Image Event. Retrieved 21 June 2016.
  3. ^ a b c "Hakea rhombales". FloraBase. Western Australian Government Department of Biodiversity, Conservation and Attractions.
  4. ^ a b c "Hakea rhombales factsheet". Government of South Australia. Retrieved 21 June 2016.
  5. ^ "Hakea rhombales". APNI. Retrieved 28 October 2019.
  6. ^ "Fragmenta Phytographiae Australiae". Biodiversity Heritage Library. Retrieved 19 September 2019.
  7. ^ "Hakea rhombales". Flora NT. Northern Territory Government. Retrieved 19 September 2019.