''Hakea acuminata'' is a shrub of the family

Proteaceae The Proteaceae form a family of flowering plants predominantly distributed in the Southern Hemisphere. The family comprises 83 genera with about 1,660 known species. Together with the Platanaceae and Nelumbonaceae, they make up the order Pro ...

native to

Western Australia Western Australia (commonly abbreviated as WA) is a state of Australia occupying the western percent of the land area of Australia excluding external territories. It is bounded by the Indian Ocean to the north and west, the Southern Ocean to th ...

. A restricted species bearing clusters of white flowers with a green or pinkish tinge in late autumn to winter.

Description

''Hakea acuminata'' is a multi-branched shrub growing to high, with smooth grey bark. Shiny rich green leaves have a yellow tinge at the base, are almost flat and partially whorled in the higher flowering branches. Leaves are concave, narrowly oval to egg-shaped long and wide. Leaves have one to three prominent longitudinal veins on both sides. The

inflorescence An inflorescence is a group or cluster of flowers arranged on a stem that is composed of a main branch or a complicated arrangement of branches. Morphologically, it is the modified part of the shoot of seed plants where flowers are formed o ...

has 16 to 24 flowers appearing in

racemes A raceme ( or ) or racemoid is an unbranched, indeterminate type of inflorescence bearing flowers having short floral stalks along the shoots that bear the flowers. The oldest flowers grow close to the base and new flowers are produced as the s ...

in leaf axils. The

perianth The perianth (perigonium, perigon or perigone in monocots) is the non-reproductive part of the flower, and structure that forms an envelope surrounding the sexual organs, consisting of the calyx (sepals) and the corolla (petals) or tepals when ...

is a cream-yellow and the

style Style is a manner of doing or presenting things and may refer to: * Architectural style, the features that make a building or structure historically identifiable * Design, the process of creating something * Fashion, a prevailing mode of clothing ...

long and prominent. The

pistil Gynoecium (; ) is most commonly used as a collective term for the parts of a flower that produce ovules and ultimately develop into the fruit and seeds. The gynoecium is the innermost whorl of a flower; it consists of (one or more) ''pistils'' ...

is long. Egg-shaped woody fruit grow singly or in pairs long and wide. Fruit become corky as they age and have little or no beak. Seed are blackish-brown, obliquely egg-shaped long and wide with a wing extending down both sides of body. From May to October clusters of cream to pale yellow, ageing to pale pink blooms appear.

Taxonomy and naming

''Hakea acuminata'' was first formally described by botanist Laurence Haegi in 1999 as part of the work ''Appendix: Hakea'' written by Haegi, W.R.Barker, R.M.Barker, and A.J.Wilson as published in ''Flora of Australia''.

Distribution and habitat

This species is

endemic Endemism is the state of a species being found in a single defined geographic location, such as an island, state, nation, country or other defined zone; organisms that are indigenous to a place are not endemic to it if they are also found elsew ...

to two small areas along the south coast in the Great Southern and Goldfields-Esperance regions of Western Australia between

Ravensthorpe Ravensthorpe may refer to any of the following places. England *Ravensthorpe, Dewsbury in West Yorkshire **Ravensthorpe railway station, Dewsbury *Ravensthorpe, Northamptonshire *Ravensthorpe, Peterborough in Cambridgeshire *Ravensthorpe, an histor ...

and Jerramungup. Grows on undulating plains of shrub-mallee or heath in deep white sand or loamy soils over

granite Granite () is a coarse-grained (phaneritic) intrusive igneous rock composed mostly of quartz, alkali feldspar, and plagioclase. It forms from magma with a high content of silica and alkali metal oxides that slowly cools and solidifies undergro ...

Conservation status

''Hakea acuminata'' is classified as "Priority Two - Poorly Known", known from one or a few populations by the Government of Western Australia Department of Parks and Wildlife, meaning it is rare or near threatened, due to its restricted distribution.

References

{{Taxonbar, from=Q18083437

aculeata Aculeata is a subclade of Hymenoptera containing ants, bees, and stinging wasps. The name is a reference to the defining feature of the group, which is the modification of the ovipositor into a stinger. However, many members of the group cannot ...

Eudicots of Western Australia Plants described in 1999