Hakea lorea
| Hakea lorea | |
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| File:Hakea lorea habit.jpg | |
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H. lorea
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| Hakea lorea |
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Hakea lorea, commonly known as bootlace oak or cork tree, is a species of shrub or small tree in the family Proteaceae found in central and northern Australia.
The species was first formally described by Robert Brown as Grevillea lorea in 1810 in Prodromus Florae Novae Hollandiae et Insulae Van Diemen after being collected in Shoalwater Bay, Queensland in September 1802, before reclassifying it in the genus Hakea in 1830, in his Supplementum primum prodromi florae Novae Hollandiae.[1] Its name lorea is derived from Latin "made from thin strips of leather" and relates to its leaves.[2] It belongs to a group of related species known as the corkbarks, or lorea group, within the genus Hakea, most of which are found across Australia's arid interior.[3]
Two subspecies are currently recognised. The nominate subspecies lorea is found over much of central and northern Australia, while the subspecies borealis is found in the Kimberley and northern Northern Territory.[4]
The species as it currently stands includes four species described over central and northern Australia which have been found to blend into one another evenly H. lorea, H. suberea, H. cunninghamii and the Queensland populations of H. fraseri (note that one remaining rare population of Hakea fraseri in New South Wales is considered a valid species).[4]
Hakea lorea grows as a gnarled tree to 10 metres high, or shrub from 1 to 5 metres high.[4] The trunk bears thick corklike bark with many furrows.[2] The long thin leaves are either single or forked, and measure from 15 to 70 cm long and 1–2.5 mm wide. The inflorescences contain anywhere from 15 to 200 individual small flowers and are shades of yellow, white or green.[4]
Hakea lorea ranges across the interior of central and northern Australia, from the southern Cape York Peninsula in the northeast, south to the Darling Downs in the southeast to northern South Australia and the Pilbara in the west.[4]
It is a slow growing but attractive plant in cultivation, its leaves and bark a feature. Full sun and good drainage are helpful.[2]
