''Hakea gibbosa'', commonly known as hairy hakea or needlebush hakea, 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 ...

, 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 ...

to south eastern Australia. It has very prickly foliage, cream-yellowish flowers from April to July, and provides shelter for small birds. It has become an environmental weed in South Africa and New Zealand, where it had been introduced for use as a hedge plant.

Description

''Hakea gibbosa'' is a very prickly shrub to high. It may be bushy or slender, and does not form a

lignotuber A lignotuber is a woody swelling of the root crown possessed by some plants as a protection against destruction of the plant stem, such as by fire. Other woody plants may develop basal burls as a similar survival strategy, often as a response t ...

. The new growth and leaves are thickly covered with fine brown hairs, becoming smooth as they age. The leaves are needle-shaped, mostly grooved on the underside, long, wide, spreading in different directions, and tipped with a very sharp point long. 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 ...

consists of two to six individual cream-coloured flowers on a stem long in the leaf axils. 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 ...

s are long and covered with long, soft hairs. Flowering occurs from April to July. 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, white-yellow and usually smooth. The large grey, globular shaped fruits are woody, long and wide, with a deeply wrinkled or warty surface, a small beak and fragile horns about long. The fruits contain two seeds. and are retained on the shrub.

Taxonomy

The species was first described by

James Edward Smith James Edward Smith may refer to: * James Edward Smith (botanist), English botanist and founder of the Linnean Society * James Edward Smith (murderer), American murderer * James Edward Smith (politician), Canadian businessman and mayor of Toronto * ...

who named the species ''Banksia gibbosa'' in 1790. In 1800 the Spanish taxonomic botanist

Antonio José Cavanilles Antonio José Cavanilles (16 January 1745 – 5 May 1804) was a leading Spanish taxonomic botanist of the 18th century. He named many plants, particularly from Oceania. He named at least 100 genera, about 54 of which were still used in 2004, ...

gave it its current name. The British botanist

Richard Anthony Salisbury Richard Anthony Salisbury, FRS (born Richard Anthony Markham; 2 May 1761 – 23 March 1829) was a British botanist. While he carried out valuable work in horticultural and botanical sciences, several bitter disputes caused him to be ostracised ...

had given it the name ''Banksia pinifolia'' in 1796, upon which Joseph Knight based his name and reallocated it to ''Hakea'' as the pine-leaved hakea (''H. pinifolia'') in his controversial 1809 work ''

On the cultivation of the plants belonging to the natural order of Proteeae ''On the cultivation of the plants belonging to the natural order of Proteeae'' is an 1809 paper on the family Proteaceae of flowering plants. Although nominally written by Joseph Knight as a paper on cultivation techniques, all but 13 pages co ...

''.

Distribution and habitat

Needlebush hakea is restricted to the Sydney basin in central New South Wales, It is found on sandstone ridges and cliffs in heathland, with red bloodwood (''

Corymbia gummifera ''Corymbia gummifera'', commonly known as red bloodwood, is a species of tree, rarely a mallee, that is endemic to eastern Australia. It has rough, tessellated bark on the trunk and branches, lance-shaped adult leaves, flower buds in groups o ...

''), tea tree (''

Leptospermum trinervium ''Leptospermum trinervium'', commonly known as flaky-barked tea-tree, slender tea-tree or paperbark tree, is a species of shrub or small tree that is endemic to eastern Australia. It has papery bark that is shed in thin, flaking layers, narrow e ...

''), dagger hakea ('' Hakea teretifolia''), heath banksia (''

Banksia ericifolia ''Banksia ericifolia'', the heath-leaved banksia, or lantern banksia, is a species of woody shrub of the family Proteaceae native to Australia. It grows in two separate regions of Central and Northern New South Wales east of the Great Dividing ...

''), and conesticks (''

Petrophile pulchella ''Petrophile pulchella'', commonly known as conesticks, is a common shrub of the family Proteaceae and is found in eastern Australia. The leaves are divided with needle-shaped but soft pinnae, the flowers silky-hairy, cream-coloured and arrange ...

''). Plants found in Queensland which were classified as this species have been renamed as a new species '' Hakea actites''. ''Hakea gibbosa'' is a Category 1 Plant on the Declared Weeds & Invaders list for South Africa. It has become naturalised in northern parts of North Island in New Zealand.

Ecology

Small birds use the prickly foliage as shelter. The seeds are eaten by the

Yellow-tailed Black Cockatoo The yellow-tailed black cockatoo (''Zanda funerea'') is a large cockatoo native to the south-east of Australia measuring in length. It has a short crest on the top of its head. Its plumage is mostly brownish black and it has prominent yello ...

Cultivation

''Hakea gibbosa'' adapts readily to cultivation and is easy to grow with good drainage and a sunny aspect, though its prickly foliage may be a deterrent. The gum was investigated for use in sustained-release tablets in 1999.

References

{{Taxonbar, from=Q5640391 gibbosa Flora of New South Wales Plants described in 1790