''Hakea epiglottis'' is a shrub commonly known as beaked hakea or needlebush hakea and 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 ...

Tasmania ) , nickname = , image_map = Tasmania in Australia.svg , map_caption = Location of Tasmania in AustraliaCoordinates: , subdivision_type = Country , subdi ...

where populations consist of functional unisexual plants. In a 1989 publication by John Wrigley & Murray Fagg states specimens at

Wakehurst Place Wakehurst, previously known as Wakehurst Place, is a house and botanic gardens in West Sussex, England, owned by the National Trust but used and managed by the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew. It is near Ardingly, West Sussex in the High Weald (g ...

, an annexe of

Kew Gardens Kew Gardens is a botanical garden, botanic garden in southwest London that houses the "largest and most diverse botany, botanical and mycology, mycological collections in the world". Founded in 1840, from the exotic garden at Kew Park, its li ...

London are specimens believed to be 60-70 years old measuring high and wide.

Description

''Hakea epiglottis'' grows to tall. 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 ...

on male plants have 2-8 flowers whereas female plants 1-3 flowers. The

bracts In botany, a bract is a modified or specialized leaf, especially one associated with a reproductive structure such as a flower, inflorescence axis or cone scale. Bracts are usually different from foliage leaves. They may be smaller, larger, or of ...

are long on a stem about long. The flower stems are long with flat white silky hairs extending on to

sepals A sepal () is a part of the flower of angiosperms (flowering plants). Usually green, sepals typically function as protection for the flower in bud, and often as support for the petals when in bloom., p. 106 The term ''sepalum'' was coined b ...

that are long and pale yellow inside. 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 recurved long. 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 ...

has a small pollen disc which is concave in male flowers but with a conical protuberance in female flowers. Fruit are shaped like the letter 'S' and long. Needle-like leaves are long and wide. The young leaves are covered in rust-coloured hairs, which distinguishes this species from the similar ''

Hakea megadenia ''Hakea megadenia'' is a shrub or tree of the family Proteaceae endemic to an area along the east coast of Tasmania and the Furneaux Island group off the coast of Tasmania. Description ''Hakea megadenia'' is an upright bushy spreading shrub or ...

''. Unisexual populations have male plants which do not produce fruit but flowers that produce pollen. Female populations have fruit with no pollen. There are recorded populations of bisexual plants where the fruit occur together with flowers producing pollen. Clusters of white through to bright yellow flowers appear in leaf axils in spring.

Taxonomy and naming

The species was first formally described by

Jacques Labillardière Jacques-Julien Houtou de Labillardière (28 October 1755 – 8 January 1834) was a French biologist noted for his descriptions of the flora of Australia. Labillardière was a member of a voyage in search of the Jean-François de Galaup, comte ...

in ''

Novae Hollandiae Plantarum Specimen ''Novae Hollandiae Plantarum Specimen'' is a two-volume work describing the flora of Australia. Facsimiles of the originals can be found in the onlinBiodiversity Heritage Library (Vol.1)anVol 2) The author was the French botanist Jacques Labillar ...

'' in 1805. 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 ...

''(epiglottis)'' is derived from the

Ancient Greek Ancient Greek includes the forms of the Greek language used in ancient Greece and the ancient world from around 1500 BC to 300 BC. It is often roughly divided into the following periods: Mycenaean Greek (), Dark Ages (), the Archaic peri ...

words ''epi'' meaning "upon" or "on" and ''glottis'' meaning "mouth of the windpipe" perhaps a reference to "a perceived resemblance of the fruit to the upper respiratory system". There are two recognised subspecies: *''Hakea epiglottis'' subsp. ''epiglottis'' has white hairs on the stalks and base of the flower. A more widely spread subspecies found in all but the north-eastern part of Tasmania. *''Hakea epiglottis'' subsp. ''milliganii'' has yellowish white hairs on the stalk but has rusty coloured hairs near the base of the flower. Has a more restricted distribution, confined to the west coast of Tasmania between

Zeehan Zeehan is a town on the west coast of Tasmania, Australia south-west of Burnie. It is part of the West Coast Council, along with the seaport Strahan, and neighbouring mining towns of Dundas, Rosebery and Queenstown. History The greater ...

and

Macquarie Harbour Macquarie Harbour is a shallow fjord in the West Coast region of Tasmania, Australia. It is approximately , and has an average depth of , with deeper places up to . It is navigable by shallow-draft vessels. The main channel is kept clear by the ...

Distribution and habitat

''Hakea epiglottis'' is a common species found in all but the north-east coast of Tasmania growing in peaty heath.

References

{{Taxonbar, from=Q3125827

epiglottis The epiglottis is a leaf-shaped flap in the throat that prevents food and water from entering the trachea and the lungs. It stays open during breathing, allowing air into the larynx. During swallowing, it closes to prevent aspiration of food int ...

Flora of Tasmania Endemic flora of Tasmania Plants described in 1805