Hakea gibbosa
Common name
downy hakea
Family
Proteaceae
Flora category
Vascular – Exotic
Structural class
Trees & Shrubs - Dicotyledons
NVS code
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.
HAKGIB
Conservation status
Not applicable
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).
Wetland plant indicator status rating
Information derived from the revised national wetland plant list prepared to assist councils in delineating and monitoring wetlands (Clarkson et al., 2021 Manaaki Whenua – Landcare Research Contract Report LC3975 for Hawke’s Bay Regional Council). The national plant list categorises plants by the extent to which they are found in wetlands and not ‘drylands’. The indicator status ratings are OBL (obligate wetland), FACW (facultative wetland), FAC (facultative), FACU (facultative upland), and UPL (obligate upland).
FACU: Facultative Upland
Occasionally is a hydrophyte but usually occurs in uplands (non-wetlands).
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
Etymology
gibbosa: From the Latin gibbosus ‘hunch-back, gibbous’, refers to an object more swollen in one place than another, with a pouch-like swelling or hump-like.
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).