Synonymy
Hakea purpurea Hook., in T.L.Mitchell, J. Exped. Trop. Australia 348 (1848)
T: Warrego R. near Mount Faraday, Qld, 10 Oct. 1846, T.Mitchell 399; syn: BM, CGE, K, NY, TCD.
An image of the NY type specimen of Mitchell can be seen on the New York Botanical Garden site.
Grevillea trisecta F.Muell., First Gen. Report 17 (1853), nom. nud.; G. trisecta F.Muell., Linnaea 26: 358 (1853), nom. nud.
Description
Dense multi-stemmed erect shrub, narrowly spreading, 0.3–2.6 m tall. Branchlets glabrous or appressed-pubescent. Leaves simple- or compound-terete with 2–7 ultimate segments, 1.6–9.5 cm long, 0.8–1.5 mm wide, tomentose, with ferruginous and white hairs, quickly glabrescent; mucro 1–2 mm long.
Inflorescence erect, with 4–10 flowers; rachis simple, 1–2.5 mm long, tomentose; pedicels 8–14 mm long. Perianth 5.5–10 mm long, pink, white at base. Pistil 29–32 mm long; pollen presenter a ±lateral disc.
Fruit obliquely ovate, 2.8–3.5 cm long, 1.6–2.2 cm wide, black-pusticulate; apiculum 3–5 mm long; horns obscure. Seed 15–24 mm long; wing encircling seed body.
Distribution and ecology
Occurs in southern Qld and N.S.W. Found in forest, woodland or heathland associated with Eucalyptus, Callitris or Casuarina and sometimes Triodia, in sandy soil or, more rarely, laterite.
To plot an up to date distribution map based on herbarium collections for this species see Australia's Virtual Herbarium. Localities outside the native range may represent cultivated or naturalised records.
Flowering time
Flowers (June–) Aug.–Oct. and some cultivated material from Canberra in Dec.
Derivation of name
From the Latin, purpureus, meaning 'purple' or 'dull red with a tinge of blue', a reference to the colour of the flowers (which in this case are pink-red rather than purple)
Relationships
Part of Section Hakea of Bentham (as Euhakea) and characterised by a non-conical pollen presenter, leaves without obvious venation, perianths with or without hairs and fruits with or without horns. Barker et al. (1999) recognised a number of informal morphological groups within the section.
Notes
Leaves in this species can be simple- or compound-terete. Usually only one sort of leaf occurs on a bush but there are enough cases where both forms occur not to recognise these differences taxonomically. The type material is the divided leaved form. Material in NY labelled as H. hodgsonii (Hodgson 301, s. loc.) by Meisner in 1867 is the entire leaved form of H. purpurea, but Meisner did not publish this name. As with H. verrucosa the leaves of this species show some tendency to all point in one direction along a branch.
A cultivated specimen from
Representative specimens
Qld: 44 km N of Chinchilla in Barakula State Forest on Auburn Rd, M.E.Ballingall 2284 (AD); 18 km by road SE of Downfall Ck on road to Miles, L.A.S.Johnson 7198 & B.G.Briggs (NSW); Portion 17, Parish of Samuel, County of Arrawatta, adjoining Bebo State Forest, L.G.Rutley NSW182234 (NSW); Miles, G.Ward NSW182239 (NSW). N.S.W.: Yetman, Nov. 1975, Pasterfield s.n. (NSW).
Weblinks
Link to PlantNET treatment.
Link to the Australian Native Plants Society (
More photographs of this species can be seen on the Australian National Botanic Gardens site.
Further illustrations
I. Holliday, Hakeas. A Field and Garden Guide 172-3 (2005)