Hakea constablei

Location & distribution maps

Common name:         ...

Conservation status: Rare

• Hakea constablei is considered rare, ROTAP conservation code 2RCa, Briggs, Leigh and Hartley 1996

Etymology:   

• The genus is named after Baron Christian Ludwig von Hake, an 18th-century German patron of botany

• The specific epithet honours Ernie Constable a former seed and plant collector for the Royal Botanic Gardens in Sydney

Flowers:                  

• The needle-shaped bright green pointed leaves are 3 to 11 cm long and 1 to 1.6 mm wide 

• The bright green leaves are needle-shaped and about 10 cm long

• It produces cream-white flowers from September to November on the previous seasons stems

• Each inflorescence is composed of 6 to 12 flowers with a cream white perianth that is 3–4.2 mm long

• The style about 10 mm long with a cone shaped stigma

Fruit:                         

• The large rounded fruit are 4.3 to 5.5 cm long and 3 to 3.5 cm wide

• The dark grey surface is covered with warty protuberances, ending with horns 0.5 to 1.8 mm long

• The dark brown seed are 2.7 to 3.7 cm long with a wing down one side

Leaves:         

Stem & branches: 

• Branches are arching hanging loosely and despite the pointed leaves not particularly prickly

Roots:         

Habit:        

• A compact rounded shrub to small tree growing to 1.8 to 6 m high

• New growth is hairy,

Habitat:   

• It is found among elevated sandstone outcrops as part of sclerophyll forest communities

Distribution:                  

• Endemic to an area in the Blue Mountains and Wollondilly catchment in NSW

Additional notes:  

• Taxonomy 

  • Hakea constablei was initially found in 1899 but the specimen was inadvertently stored with another Hakea

  • It was overlooked until 1950 when E.F. Constable collected the species near the Blue Mountains and brought it to the attention of botanists at the Sydney Herbarium

  • The species was first formally described by the botanist Lawrence Alexander Sidney Johnson in 1962 and published in Contributions from the New South Wales National Herbarium

  • He collected mostly in NSW, including the type specimen for the species

Sources of information:

• https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hakea_constablei (2024)