''Hakea microcarpa '', commonly known as small-fruit hakea is a flowering plant in the

family Family (from la, familia) is a Social group, group of people related either by consanguinity (by recognized birth) or Affinity (law), affinity (by marriage or other relationship). The purpose of the family is to maintain the well-being of its ...

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 eastern

Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a Sovereign state, sovereign country comprising the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous List of islands of Australia, sma ...

. It is a spreading shrub, often growing in woodlands, heathlands and near swamps in

montane Montane ecosystems are found on the slopes of mountains. The alpine climate in these regions strongly affects the ecosystem because temperatures fall as elevation increases, causing the ecosystem to stratify. This stratification is a crucial f ...

areas of eastern

Description

''Hakea microcarpa'' is a shrub growing to tall but often wider than tall. Its leaves and branches are

glabrous Glabrousness (from the Latin ''glaber'' meaning "bald", "hairless", "shaved", "smooth") is the technical term for a lack of hair, down, setae, trichomes or other such covering. A glabrous surface may be a natural characteristic of all or part of ...

except for a few hairs on new growth and which are lost by the time of flowering. The leaves are usually needle-shaped, long and about wide but sometimes there are a few flat leaves up to wide. The flowers are off-white in colour and are arranged in groups of ten to forty in the leaf

axil A leaf ( : leaves) is any of the principal appendages of a vascular plant stem, usually borne laterally aboveground and specialized for photosynthesis. Leaves are collectively called foliage, as in "autumn foliage", while the leaves, st ...

s. The stalk of each flower is long and 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. Flowering occurs from September to February and is followed by the fruit which is a woody follicle containing two winged seeds. The follicle is oblong in shape, about long and wide with a small point long on each of the two sides. Hakea microcarpa (habit)

Taxonomy and naming

''Hakea microcarpa'' was first formally described in 1810 by Robert Brown and the description was published in ''

Transactions of the Linnean Society of London The Linnean Society of London is a learned society dedicated to the study and dissemination of information concerning natural history, evolution, and taxonomy. It possesses several important biological specimen, manuscript and literature colle ...

''. 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 ...

(''microcarpa'') is a 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 ''mikros'' (μικρός) meaning "small" and ''karpos'' (καρπός) meaning "fruit",Backer, C.A. (1936). ''Verklarend woordenboek der wetenschappelijke namen van de in Nederland en Nederlandsch-Indië in het wild groeiende en in tuinen en parken gekweekte varens en hoogere planten'' (Edition Nicoline van der Sijs). referring to the small fruit.

Distribution and habitat

Small-fruited hakea grows on the east coast and ranges of Australia from

Stanthorpe Stanthorpe is a rural town and locality in the Southern Downs Region, Queensland, Australia. In the , Stanthorpe had a population of 5,406 people. The area surrounding the town is known as the Granite Belt. Geography Stanthorpe lies on the New ...

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

where it grows in

subalpine Montane ecosystems are found on the slopes of mountains. The alpine climate in these regions strongly affects the ecosystem because temperatures fall as elevation increases, causing the ecosystem to stratify. This stratification is a crucial f ...

bog A bog or bogland is a wetland that accumulates peat as a deposit of dead plant materials often mosses, typically sphagnum moss. It is one of the four main types of wetlands. Other names for bogs include mire, mosses, quagmire, and muskeg; a ...

s, or in forest or woodland in damp sites. Image:Polblue Swamp Hakea m.JPG, Polblue Swamp,

Barrington Tops State Conservation Area Barrington Tops State Conservation Area is a protected area in the Australian state of New South Wales in the Barrington Tops region. It was previously known as the Polblue and Barrington Tops Crown Reserves. The conservation area was created in ...

Image:Hakea microcarpa (8215690757).jpg,

Morton National Park The Morton National Park is a national park located in the Southern Highlands, South Coast and Illawarra regions of New South Wales, Australia, situated approximately south southwest of Sydney. Location and features The most notable attractio ...

References

{{Taxonbar, from=Q5640395 microcarpa Flora of New South Wales Flora of Queensland Flora of Tasmania Flora of Victoria (state) Proteales of Australia Plants described in 1810 Taxa named by Robert Brown (botanist, born 1773)