Hakea ferruginea, commonly known as rusty hakea,[2] is shrub in the family Proteaceae. It has flat leaves and white to cream-coloured flowers from late winter to mid-summer and is endemic to Western Australia.
Hakea ferruginea is an erect, rounded, non-lignotuberous shrub which typically grows to a height of 1 to 4.5 metres (3 to 15ft). The branchlets are hairy and the leaves are arranged alternately.[3] The pale green leaf blade is flat, narrowly to broadly egg-shaped or elliptic and is 1.5 to 8.5 centimetres (0.6 to 3.3in) in length and 1.2 to 2.7cm (0.47 to 1.06in) wide.[4] It blooms from July to November and produces white-cream flowers.[3] The solitary inflorescences contain 16 to 20 flowers with a cream-white perianth. After flowering, obliquely ovate shaped beaked fruit appear. These are 2 to 3.1cm (0.79 to 1.22in) in length and 1.1 to 1.8cm (0.43 to 0.71in) wide. The black to brown seeds within have a narrowly ovate or elliptic shape with a wing down one edge.[4]
Taxonomy
Hakea ferruginea was first formally described by the botanist Robert Sweet in 1827 and the description was published in Flora Australasica.[5][6]Hakea repandaR.Br. is a synonym.[7][8] The specific epithet is a Latin word meaning "rust-coloured" or "rusty",[9] referring to the colour of new growth.[4]
Distribution
Rusty hakea is found in a small area in the Wheatbelt and an area along the south coast of the Great Southern and Goldfields-Esperance regions of Western Australia where it grows in sandy, rocky loam or clay soils.[3] The shrub is often part of mallee heath or open forest communities.[4]
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