''Hakea tephrosperma'' commonly known as hooked needlewood, is a shrub or small tree species 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 ...

. It has cream flowers, needle-shaped leaves and is one of the taller species adaptable for dry to temperate locations.

Description

''Hakea tephrosperma'' is a large upright multi-stemmed shrub or small tree growing to high and forms a lignotuber. The smaller branches are rusty coloured with flat silky hairs or may be densely covered with short white, woolly, soft matted hairs. The needle-shaped leaves are smooth long, wide and ending in a small curved hook 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 ...

has a short red-brown stalk long, covered in fine soft hairs. The inflorescence consists of 6-22 flowers, each individual flower has a stalk long. 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 ...

and

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 ...

are white and red-brown with fine soft matted hairs.

Racemes A raceme ( or ) or racemoid is an unbranched, indeterminate type of inflorescence bearing flowers having short floral stalks along the shoots that bear the flowers. The oldest flowers grow close to the base and new flowers are produced as the s ...

of cream flowers appear in the leaf axils between September and October. The egg-shaped fruit are mostly smooth long and wide, occasionally with small blister-like protuberances. The fruit ending with blunt conspicuous horns up to long.

Taxonomy and naming

''Hakea tephrosperma'' was first formally described in 1830 by botanist Robert Brown in ''

Supplementum primum prodromi florae Novae Hollandiae ''Supplementum primum Prodromi florae Novae Hollandiae'' ("First supplement to the Prodromus of the flora of New Holland") is an 1830 supplement to Robert Brown's ''Prodromus florae Novae Hollandiae et Insulae Van Diemen''. It may be referred to ...

''. 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 ...

''(tephrosperma)'' 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 ''tephros'' meaning "ash-coloured" and ''sperma'' meaning "seed" referring to the colour of the seed.

Distribution and habitat

Hooked needlewood is a widespread species occurring in drier areas of

Queensland ) , nickname = Sunshine State , image_map = Queensland in Australia.svg , map_caption = Location of Queensland in Australia , subdivision_type = Country , subdivision_name = Australia , established_title = Before federation , established_ ...

New South Wales ) , nickname = , image_map = New South Wales in Australia.svg , map_caption = Location of New South Wales in AustraliaCoordinates: , subdivision_type = Country , subdivision_name = Australia , established_title = Before federation , es ...

, Victoria and

South Australia South Australia (commonly abbreviated as SA) is a state in the southern central part of Australia. It covers some of the most arid parts of the country. With a total land area of , it is the fourth-largest of Australia's states and territories ...

. Grows in open spinifex and blue-bush ( Maireana species) shrubland as an individual tree or in dense thickets on coarse soils. The hooked needlewood is an adaptable species for dry to temperate locations but rarely seen in cultivation.

References

{{Taxonbar, from=Q5640416 tephrosperma Flora of New South Wales Flora of Queensland Flora of South Australia Flora of Victoria (state) Plants described in 1830 Taxa named by Robert Brown (botanist, born 1773)