''Hakea cristata'', commonly known as the snail hakea, is a 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 ...

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 ...

. An ornamental prickly shrub with attractive foliage and creamy white rounded flowers appearing in profusion in the winter months.

Description

''Hakea cristata'' is a straggly, upright, multi-stemmed shrub typically growing to a height of , smaller branches smooth. The leaves grow alternately are more or less egg-shaped tapering toward the base, long and wide. The leaf margins are toothed and prickly, new growth smooth and an attractive pink-reddish colour. The smooth mid-green leaves have a central vein ending in a stiff 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 composed of 24-42 faintly scented cream white flowers and appear in upper leaf axils from May to August. 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 long and smooth. 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 ...

is smooth. The fruit distinguish this species having a toothed crest that runs along each side of the underside of the fruit valve ending in a triangular horn at the apex. Fruit grow at an angle on the stalk are egg-shaped long and wide. The surface has spiky toothed ridges, fruit may remain green even at maturity. The winged elliptic seeds are long.

Taxonomy and naming

''Hakea cristata'' was first formally described by the botanist Robert Brown in 1830 and published in ''Supplementum primum prodromi florae Novae Hollandiae''. 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 ...

(''cristata'') 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 ''cristatus'' meaning "tufted" or "crested", referring to the crests along each side of the fruit.

Distribution and habitat

The snail hakea is specifically associated with

lateritic Laterite is both a soil and a rock type rich in iron and aluminium and is commonly considered to have formed in hot and wet tropical areas. Nearly all laterites are of rusty-red coloration, because of high iron oxide content. They develop by ...

soils and

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 ...

outcrops in the

jarrah ''Eucalyptus marginata'', commonly known as jarrah, djarraly in Noongar language and historically as Swan River mahogany, is a plant in the myrtle family, Myrtaceae and is endemic to the south-west of Western Australia. It is a tree with roug ...

forests of the

Darling Scarp The Darling Scarp, also referred to as the Darling Range or Darling Ranges, is a low escarpment running north–south to the east of the Swan Coastal Plain and Perth, Western Australia. The escarpment extends generally north of Bindoon, to th ...

between Chittering and Mundaring. It is usually part of open ''

Eucalyptus wandoo ''Eucalyptus wandoo'', commonly known as wandoo, dooto, warrnt or wornt, is a small to medium-sized tree that is endemic to the southwest of Western Australia. It has smooth bark, lance-shaped adult leaves, flower buds in groups of nine to sev ...

'' woodland communities.

Notes

References

* Young, J.A. (2006) ''Hakeas of Western Australia - A Field and Identification Guide'' page 31

External links

* http://www.anbg.gov.au/abrs/online-resources/flora/stddisplay.xsql?pnid=3219 Flora of Australia Online {{DEFAULTSORT:Hakea Cristata Eudicots of Western Australia cristata Plants described in 1830 Taxa named by Robert Brown (botanist, born 1773)