Hakea bakeriana facts for kids
Quick facts for kids Hakea bakeriana |
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| Scientific classification | |
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Hakea
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| Species: |
bakeriana
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| Occurrence data from Australasian Virtual Herbarium | |
The Hakea bakeriana is a special type of shrub. It belongs to the plant family called Proteaceae. This plant is only found in one specific area: the Central Coast of New South Wales, Australia. This means it is endemic to that region.
It's a bushy plant with leaves that look like thin cylinders and have sharp points. Its beautiful flowers are pink to deep red. They grow in small groups of four to twelve. After the flowers, it grows a rough, wrinkly fruit called a follicle. This fruit has a short, beak-like tip.
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What Does Hakea Bakeriana Look Like?
Hakea bakeriana is a thick, bushy shrub with many branches. It usually grows to be about 1 to 2 meters (3 to 7 feet) tall and wide. This plant has a special woody swelling at its base called a lignotuber. This helps it grow back after a fire.
Its smaller branches are covered in soft, matted hairs. The leaves are shaped like cylinders. They are about 5 to 11.5 centimeters (2 to 4.5 inches) long and very thin, about 0.8 to 1.5 millimeters (0.03 to 0.06 inches) wide. Each leaf ends in a sharp point.
The flowers are fragrant and appear in groups of 4 to 12. They grow on short, hairy stems. You might even see flowers growing right below the leaves or on older branches. The pink to crimson flowers are about 10 to 15 millimeters (0.4 to 0.6 inches) long. The long, thin part of the flower, called the style, is about 40 millimeters (1.6 inches) long. These lovely flowers bloom from late autumn to early spring.
After flowering, the plant produces woody fruits. These fruits have a rough, deeply wrinkled surface with lighter, blister-like bumps. They are quite large, about 4.5 to 7 centimeters (1.8 to 2.8 inches) long and 3.3 to 4.5 centimeters (1.3 to 1.8 inches) wide. Each fruit has a small, smooth, or sometimes hidden beak at its end.
How Hakea Bakeriana Got Its Name
This plant was first officially described in 1892. Two famous botanists, Ferdinand von Mueller and Joseph Maiden, gave it its scientific name. They found a sample of the plant on a patch of ground near a creek in Wallsend.
Their description was published in a special book called the Macleay Memorial Volume by the Linnean Society of New South Wales. The second part of its name, bakeriana, honors Richard Thomas Baker. He was a teacher, a botanist who studied useful plants, and later a curator at the Technological Museum in Sydney.
Where Does Hakea Bakeriana Grow?
Hakea bakeriana grows in different types of natural areas. You can find it in heathlands, which are open areas with small shrubs. It also grows in sclerophyll forests and dry forests. These places are along the coast and nearby mountain ranges of New South Wales. Its natural home stretches between the cities of Newcastle and Glenorie.
Growing Hakea Bakeriana at Home
Many people who love native plants have grown Hakea bakeriana for a long time. It's a tough plant that can grow well in different types of soil and climates. However, it grows best when it gets plenty of sunshine.
It's fairly easy to grow this plant from its seeds. But because Hakea bakeriana only grows in a small area in the wild, finding its seeds might be a bit tricky.
See also
In Spanish: Hakea bakeriana para niños
