Hakea ferruginea, commonly known as rusty hakea,[1] is shrub in the family Proteaceae. It has flat leaves and white to cream-coloured flowers from late winter to mid-summer and is endemic to Western Australia.
Hakea ferruginea is an erect, rounded, non-lignotuberous shrub which typically grows to a height of 1to. The branchlets are hairy and the leaves are arranged alternately. The pale green leaf blade is flat, narrowly to broadly egg-shaped or elliptic and is 1.5to in length and 1.2to wide.[2] It blooms from July to November and produces white-cream flowers. The solitary inflorescences contain 16 to 20 flowers with a cream-white perianth. After flowering, obliquely ovate shaped beaked fruit appear. These are 2to in length and 1.1to wide. The black to brown seeds within have a narrowly ovate or elliptic shape with a wing down one edge.[2]
Hakea ferruginea was first formally described by the botanist Robert Sweet in 1827 and the description was published in Flora Australasica.[3] [4] Hakea repanda R.Br. is a synonym.[5] [6] The specific epithet is a Latin word meaning "rust-coloured" or "rusty",[7] referring to the colour of new growth.[2]
Rusty hakea is found in a small area in the Wheatbelt and an area along the south coast of the Great Southern and Goldfields-Esperance regions of Western Australia where it grows in sandy, rocky loam or clay soils. The shrub is often part of mallee heath or open forest communities.[2]
Hakea ferruginea is classified as "not threatened" by the Western Australian Government Department of Parks and Wildlife.