Species

Hakea gibbosa

Etymology

gibbosa: From the Latin gibbosus 'hunch-back', refers to an object more swollen in one place than another.
gibbosa: From the Latin gibbus 'humped' or 'hunched', meaning gibbous, i.e. very convex or tumid

Common Name(s)

downy hakea

Authority

Hakea gibbosa Cav.

Family

Proteaceae

Flora Category

Vascular - Exotic

NVS Species Code

HAKGIB

The National Vegetation Survey (NVS) Databank is a physical archive and electronic databank containing records of over 94,000 vegetation survey plots - including data from over 19,000 permanent plots. NVS maintains a standard set of species code abbreviations that correspond to standard scientific plant names from the Ngä Tipu o Aotearoa - New Zealand Plants database.

Structural Class

Dicotyledonous Trees & Shrubs

Habitat

Terrestrial. A coastal and lowland plant. Plant grows in low fertility sites. The plant is found in scrub and forest margin, shrubland and gumlands (Timmins & MacKenzie 1995).

Features

Spreading shrub, hairy in most of its parts. Shoots terete, shaggy villous. Leaves simple, terete, 30~80 x .8~1.5mm, villous at first and some hairs remaining, rigid and spiny. Flowers solitary or few in fascicles. Pedicels 3~5mm long, shaggy villous. Perianth white, sparsely hairy, < pedicel. Ovary stipitate; style glabrous; stigma large, oblique. Fruit 3.7~4.3 x 3~3.5cm, rugose, shortly beaked. Seed 30~33 x 10~14mm (incl. wing), black; wing extending down both margins. (- Webb et. al., 1988)

Similar Taxa

Extremely prickly, spreading shrub, hairy in most of its parts. Leaves needle-like and circular in cross section. Has a large woody, beaked seed capsule. Seed winged on both margins. Flowers white, Jun_Aug. can be confused with needlebush (prickly Hakea) - only the shoots of needlebush are hairy.

Flowering

June, July, August

Flower Colours

White

Fruiting

Fruit are always present because follicles persist on trees.

Year Naturalised

1937

Origin

NSW

Reason For Introduction
Ornamental

Life Cycle Comments
Perennial. Germination is poor in unburnt sites, the situation in New Zealand is unknown.

Seed
The plant produces large amounts of seed. A seed bank is probably not formed (Timmins & MacKenzie 1995).

Dispersal
Seed is dispersed by wind and gravity.

Tolerances
The plant is intolerant of shade and frost; slightly tolerant of poor drainage and highly tolerant of drought. Adult plants are resistant to grazing. Fire kills plants but viable seed is released from the follicles. Requires low to medium soil fertility (Atkinson 1997).

This page last updated on 10 Sep 2010