''Hakea sericea'', commonly known as bushy needlewood or silky hakea, is a large shrub with a profusion of mainly white flowers from July for several months. It is endemic to eastern Australia. It has become an environmental weed in some countries.

Description

''Hakea sericea'' is a large spreading, bushy shrub and may grow to and does not form a lignotuber. The branchlets are densely covered in grey-whitish short, soft, woolly hairs. The inflorescence appear in umbels of 1–6 flowers in leaf axils, pinkish in bud and maturing to white. The inflorescence rachis is long and thickly covered in woolly, short, matted white hairs toward the end and rusty coloured at the base. The pedicels are long, slight to densely covered with long white hairs. The smooth perianth is long and the

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 needle-shaped leaves are grooved on the undersurface and up to long and wide and ending in a sharp point long. The leaves are moderately covered with flattened silky hairs, quickly becoming smooth. The fruit are rough and coarsely wrinkled with a network of veins on the surface, long and wide ending with a short, broad beak to long.

Taxonomy and naming

''Hakea sericea'' was first formally described by Heinrich Schrader and Johann Christoph Wendland in 1797 and published the description in ''Sertum Hannoveranum''. The genus ''Hakea'' is named after Baron von Hake, patron of botany in the 18th century. ''Sericea'' meaning silky, referring to the tiny hairs on young growth.

Distribution and habitat

Silky hakea is found from the coast and adjacent ranges of south-eastern Queensland to south-eastern New South Wales. A frost tolerant species, grows in well-drained soil and full sun. A good habitat plant due to its prickly habit and winter flowering. It is also naturalised in Victoria and possibly South Australia. ''H. sericea'' is an invasive weed in some areas outside Australia, specifically in South Africa, New Zealand and Portugal.Weedbusters NZ: Needlebush.
Retrieved 8 December 2018.

References

{{Taxonbar, from=Q3283002 sericea Endemic flora of Australia Flora of New South Wales Flora of Victoria (Australia) Garden plants of Australia Plants described in 1797