''Hakea subsulcata'' 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 ...

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 an area in the Wheatbelt, Great Southern and the Goldfields-Esperance regions of Western Australia. It is an upright, broom-like shrub with needle-shaped leaves and purple-pink flowers from winter to early spring.

Description

''Hakea subsulcata'' is an upright to spreading shrub typically grows to a height of and does not form a lignotuber. The smaller branches are thickly covered in flattened soft hairs at flowering time. The branches with flowers are smooth. The terete blue-grey leaves are long and in diameter, ending in a blunt point. The leaves have scattered flattened soft hairs or are smooth with 12 longitudinal veins the length of the leaf. 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 ...

is a spherical shaped

umbel In botany, an umbel is an inflorescence that consists of a number of short flower stalks (called pedicels) that spread from a common point, somewhat like umbrella ribs. The word was coined in botanical usage in the 1590s, from Latin ''umbella'' "p ...

of about 50 large purplish, mauve or creamy-white flowers on bare wood or occasionally below leaves and rarely in leaf axils and partially covered by dense foliage. 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 purple and smooth,

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 ...

mauve and the cream

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'' ...

long. The small fruit are narrow long and less than wide tapering to a conical beak and usually in a cluster. Flowering occurs from May to September.

Taxonomy and naming

''Hakea subsulcata'' was first formally described in 1845 by Carl Meisner and the description was published in ''

Plantae Preissianae ''Plantae preissianae sive enumeratio plantarum quas in australasia occidentali et meridionali-occidentali annis 1838-1841 collegit Ludovicus Preiss'', more commonly known as ''Plantae preissianae'', is a book written by Johann Georg Christian Leh ...

''. It is named from the Latin ''sub'' - somewhat, and ''sulcatus'' - grooved, referring to the leaf structure.

Distribution and habitat

This species grows from Wyalkatchem through to Gnowangerup and south to

Ravensthorpe Ravensthorpe may refer to any of the following places. England *Ravensthorpe, Dewsbury in West Yorkshire **Ravensthorpe railway station, Dewsbury *Ravensthorpe, Northamptonshire *Ravensthorpe, Peterborough in Cambridgeshire *Ravensthorpe, an histor ...

. Grows in heath, scrub and woodland in well-drained clay, various coloured sands and loam over

laterite 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 ...

, often with gravel, occasionally on ridges. An ornamental species, may be used for hedging and low windbreak.

Conservation status

''Hakea subsulcata'' is classified as "not threatened" by the Western Australian Government.

References

{{Taxonbar, from=Q18083140 subsulcata Eudicots of Western Australia Plants described in 1845 Taxa named by Carl Meissner