''Hakea bucculenta'', commonly known as red pokers, is a large shrub in 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 ...

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 Western Australia. A spectacular ornamental shrub with red or orange flowers that appear in rod-like blooms in leaf axils for an extended period from May to November.

Description

''Hakea bucculenta'' is non- lignotuberous upright, rounded, bushy shrub that typically grows to a height of but can reach as high as . Smaller branches have irregular patches of flattened silky hairs becoming smooth at flowering. The leaves are a narrowly linear shape with a slight curve and long and wide. Each leaf has fine ribbing, conspicuous veins with an obvious mid-vein on both sides and ending with a sharp point. Each

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 ...

is made up of 250 to 450 showy orange or bright red flowers 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 ...

up to long on a smooth stem long. Flowers appear from May to November, the main flush in spring. The

pedicel Pedicle or pedicel may refer to: Human anatomy *Pedicle of vertebral arch, the segment between the transverse process and the vertebral body, and is often used as a radiographic marker and entry point in vertebroplasty and kyphoplasty procedures ...

is smooth and

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 ...

a bright red. The style long. The woody fruit are egg-shaped long and wide. The grey smooth fruit appear in clusters of 3–16 on a long stem or attached directly onto the branch. Each fruit is divided into a thick body ending a blunt beak. The blackish or brown seeds are obliquely obovate with a length of and a width of with a single wing.

Taxonomy

''Hakea bucculenta'' was first formally described by the botanist

Charles Austin Gardner Charles Austin Gardner (6 January 1896 – 24 February 1970) was an English-born Western Australian botanist. Biography Born in Lancaster, in England, on 6 January 1896, Gardner emigrated to Western Australia with his family in 1909, whe ...

in 1936 and published in the ''Journal of the Royal Society of Western Australia''. The

specific epithet In taxonomy, binomial nomenclature ("two-term naming system"), also called nomenclature ("two-name naming system") or binary nomenclature, is a formal system of naming species of living things by giving each a name composed of two parts, bot ...

''(bucculenta)'' is derived from the

Latin Latin (, or , ) is a classical language belonging to the Italic branch of the Indo-European languages. Latin was originally a dialect spoken in the lower Tiber area (then known as Latium) around present-day Rome, but through the power of the ...

word ''bucculentus'' meaning "with full cheeks", which refers to the shape of the fruit.

Distribution

''Hakea bucculenta'' is

to coastal areas in the

Gascoyne The Gascoyne region is one of the nine administrative regions of Western Australia. It is located in the northwest of Western Australia, and consists of the local government areas of Carnarvon, Exmouth, Shark Bay and Upper Gascoyne. The Gasc ...

and

Mid West The Midwestern United States, also referred to as the Midwest or the American Midwest, is one of four census regions of the United States Census Bureau (also known as "Region 2"). It occupies the northern central part of the United States. I ...

regions between

Shark Bay Shark Bay (Malgana: ''Gathaagudu'', "two waters") is a World Heritage Site in the Gascoyne region of Western Australia. The http://www.environment.gov.au/heritage/places/world/shark-bay area is located approximately north of Perth, on the ...

and Geraldton in

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 ...

. Grows on coastal sand plain heath or mallee, roadsides verges in sandy, loam or clay-based soils.

Cultivation

''Hakea bucculenta'' is sensitive to

dieback Dieback may refer to a number of plant problems and diseases including: * Forest dieback caused by acid rain, heavy metal pollution, or imported pathogens * The death of regions of a plant or similar organism caused by physical damage, such as from ...

and thus difficult to keep alive in areas of high humidity. It can be successfully grafted onto ''

Hakea salicifolia ''Hakea salicifolia'' commonly known as the willow-leaved hakea, is species of flowering plant that is endemic to eastern Australia. It is an adaptable, fast growing small tree or shrub with attractive foliage and cream white flowers. Descript ...

''. It is most commonly propagated from seeds which germinate in about three to four weeks. Cuttings can also be used but usually have a low rate of success. It grows well in a sunny position out of the wind in well-drained soils; it will tolerate both drought and frost.

References

External links

* {{Taxonbar, from=Q5640375 Eudicots of Western Australia bucculenta Plants described in 1936