Sea urchin hakea

Appearance

"Hakea petiolaris" grows as an erect shrub or tree up to 9 m in height. The leaves have a distinctive pale-grey colour and are 5.5–15 cm long and 2.5–6 cm wide. The flowers are arranged in groups that appear on small branches or in the forks of branches. The groups are roughly spherical and contain 120 to 200 individual flowers. Each flower is 1.4–1.8 cm long and white or cream in colour with the perianth, ranging in colour from pink to purple. Flowering is followed by woody seed capsules which are 2–3.5 cm long and 1–2 cm wide. Each capsule splits into valves and releases 2 dark brown or black winged seeds.

Distribution

* Subspecies "petiolaris" grows in jarrah forest, usually near granite outcrops between the Darling Range and York in the Avon Wheatbelt, Jarrah Forest and Swan Coastal Plain biogeographic regions.
⤷  Subspecies "trichophylla" grows near granite outcrops in shrubland near Wongan Hills and with disjunct populations near Kununoppin and Tuttanning Nature Reserve east of Pingelly in the Avon Wheatbelt, Jarrah Forest and Mallee biogeographic regions.
⤷  Subspecies "angusta" is only known from a few small populations growing around granite outcrops near Pingaring in the Mallee biogeographic region.

Status

All three subspecies of "H. petiolaris" are listed as "not threatened" by the Western Australian Government Department of Parks and Wildlife.

Habitat

* Subspecies "petiolaris" grows in jarrah forest, usually near granite outcrops between the Darling Range and York in the Avon Wheatbelt, Jarrah Forest and Swan Coastal Plain biogeographic regions.
⤷  Subspecies "trichophylla" grows near granite outcrops in shrubland near Wongan Hills and with disjunct populations near Kununoppin and Tuttanning Nature Reserve east of Pingelly in the Avon Wheatbelt, Jarrah Forest and Mallee biogeographic regions.
⤷  Subspecies "angusta" is only known from a few small populations growing around granite outcrops near Pingaring in the Mallee biogeographic region.The presentation of flowers at the stem may be a relictual characteristic of a time when tall forest dominated the region and pollinators such as birds moved within the dense leaf canopy of under-storey species.