''Hakea preissii'', commonly known as the needle tree, needle bush and Christmas hakea, is a shrub or tree of the genus ''

Hakea ''Hakea'' ( ) is a genus of about 150 species of plants in the Family ''Proteaceae'', endemic to Australia. They are shrubs or small trees with leaves that are sometimes flat, otherwise circular in cross section in which case they are sometimes d ...

'' native to Western Australia. The

Noongar The Noongar (, also spelt Noongah, Nyungar , Nyoongar, Nyoongah, Nyungah, Nyugah, and Yunga ) are Aboriginal Australian peoples who live in the south-west corner of Western Australia, from Geraldton on the west coast to Esperance on the so ...

name for the plant is Tanjinn.

Description

''Hakea preissii'' is a shrub or tree which typically grows to a height of . It has branchlets that are moderately to densely appressed-pubescent on new growth, quickly glabrescent, and glaucous in their second year. The rigid, simple leaves are rarely divided apically into 2 or 3 segments, in length and in width. Inflorescence are axillary with 4–28 yellow-green flowers with persistent pedicels long. Smooth grey to black fruit that are obliquely ovate or elliptic, dilated apically and approximately long and wide. It blooms from August to December.

Taxonomy

''Hakea preissii'' was first formally described by the botanist Carl Meissner in 1845 from a specimen collected in a forest near

York York is a cathedral city with Roman origins, sited at the confluence of the rivers Ouse and Foss in North Yorkshire, England. It is the historic county town of Yorkshire. The city has many historic buildings and other structures, such as a ...

. The description was published in Johann Georg Christian Lehmann's work ''Plantae Preissianae''. 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 ...

(''preissii'') honours Ludwig Preiss who collected plant specimens in Western Australia between 1838 and 1842.

Distribution and habitat

Needle tree 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 an area in the

Pilbara The Pilbara () is a large, dry, thinly populated region in the north of Western Australia. It is known for its Aboriginal peoples; its ancient landscapes; the red earth; and its vast mineral deposits, in particular iron ore. It is also a glo ...

, Wheatbelt, Mid West and Goldfields-Esperance regions of

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 ...

. It has a scattered distribution and is found as far north as Tom Price and south as Gnowangerup. It is found along the west coast and a little farther east than

Kalgoorlie Kalgoorlie is a city in the Goldfields–Esperance region of Western Australia, located east-northeast of Perth at the end of the Great Eastern Highway. It is sometimes referred to as Kalgoorlie–Boulder, as the surrounding urban area includ ...

. The plant is found on plains and around the margins of salt marshes growing in sand, loam and sandy-clay soils. It sometimes invades semi-arid pastoral land in Western Australia.

Conservation

This species is classified as "not threatened" by the Western Australian Government

Department of Parks and Wildlife The Department of Parks and Wildlife (DPaW) was the department of the Government of Western Australia responsible for managing lands described in the ''Conservation and Land Management Act 1984'' and implementing the state's conservation and e ...

. Image:Hakea preissii fruit.jpg, ''Hakea preissii'' fruit Image:Hakea preissii habit.jpg, ''Hakea preissii'' habit

References

{{Taxonbar, from=Q18084062 preissii Eudicots of Western Australia Plants described in 1845 Taxa named by Carl Meissner