Needle bush
Hakea preissii growing on the edge of Lake Hurlstone near Hyden
Scientific classification Edit this classification
Kingdom: Plantae
Clade: Tracheophytes
Clade: Angiosperms
Clade: Eudicots
Order: Proteales
Family: Proteaceae
Genus: Hakea
Species:
H. preissii
Binomial name
Hakea preissii
Occurrence data from Australasian Virtual Herbarium

Hakea preissii, commonly known as the needle tree,[1] needle bush and Christmas hakea,[2] is a shrub or tree of the genus Hakea native to Western Australia. The Noongar name for the plant is Tanjinn.[3]

Description

Hakea preissii is a shrub or tree which typically grows to a height of 2 to 4 metres (6.6 to 13.1 ft). 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, 1 to 6 centimetres (0.4 to 2.4 in) in length and 1.5 to 2.5 millimetres (0.06 to 0.10 in) in width. Inflorescence are axillary with 4–28 yellow-green flowers with persistent pedicels 3.5 to 7 millimetres (0.14 to 0.28 in) long. Smooth grey to black fruit that are obliquely ovate or elliptic, dilated apically and approximately 2 centimetres (0.8 in) long and 1 centimetre (0.4 in) wide. It blooms from August to December.[4]

Taxonomy

Hakea preissii was first formally described by the botanist Carl Meissner in 1845 from a specimen collected in a forest near York. The description was published in Johann Georg Christian Lehmann's work Plantae Preissianae.[5][6][7] The specific epithet (preissii) honours Ludwig Preiss who collected plant specimens in Western Australia between 1838 and 1842.[4]

Distribution and habitat

Needle tree is endemic to an area in the Pilbara, Wheatbelt, Mid West and Goldfields-Esperance regions of Western Australia. 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. The plant is found on plains and around the margins of salt marshes growing in sand, loam and sandy-clay soils.[1] It sometimes invades semi-arid pastoral land in Western Australia.[8]

Conservation

This species is classified as "not threatened" by the Western Australian Government Department of Parks and Wildlife.[1]

References

  1. 1 2 3 "Hakea preissii". FloraBase. Western Australian Government Department of Biodiversity, Conservation and Attractions.
  2. ↑ "Hakea preissii Meisn. Christmas hakea". The Atlas of Living Australia. Global Biodiversity Information Facility. Retrieved 20 June 2016.
  3. ↑ "Noongar names for plants". kippleonline.net. Archived from the original on 20 November 2016. Retrieved 8 December 2016.
  4. 1 2 "Hakea preissii factsheet". Government of South Australia. Retrieved 20 June 2016.
  5. ↑ "Hakea preissii". APNI. Retrieved 18 October 2018.
  6. ↑ Meissner, Carl (1845). Plantae Preissianae. Vol. v.1. Hamburg: Sumptibus Meissneri. p. 557. Retrieved 18 October 2018.
  7. ↑ "Hakea preissii Meisn". Atlas of Living Australia. Global Biodiversity Information Facility. Retrieved 18 October 2018.
  8. ↑ Holm, Alexander M.; Shackleton, KR; Speijers, Jane (1993). "Control of Hakea Preissii (Meissner) and Associated Species by Fire in Degraded Semi-Arid Rangelands". The Rangeland Journal. 15 (1): 71–78. doi:10.1071/RJ9930071.
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