Alice Springs Desert Park

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Know as the Walukara (Hakea rhombales), from the family Proteaceae, this hakea is a relatively rare species that is found growing within a limited range from Wiluna in the mid west region of Western Australia, through the Central Ranges, Gascoyne, Gibson Desert, Little Sandy Desert, Murchison, Pilbara and Great Sandy Desert, through to the Petermann Range in the Northern Territory.

With its distinctive flower, colours and leaves, the Hakea rhombales grows up to 2 m in height. It has a lignotuber that aids it to survive fires and hard pruning. The leaves are terete (round in cross section) with the flowers produced in the leaf axils. The Latin name rhombus, is attributed to the shape of the seed wing.

The axillary inflorescence (an inflorescence that grow from the axil of a leaf, as apposed to a terminal inflorescence that arises from the end of a stem), is red to pink. They flower between April to September. They do not have a pleasant scent.


  • Scientific classification
  • Kingdom: Plantae
  • Clade: Tracheophytes
  • Clade: Angiosperms
  • Clade: Eudicots
  • Order: Proteales
  • Family: Proteaceae
  • Genus: Hakea
  • Species: H. rhombales
  • Binomial name: Hakea rhombales

Footnote & References

  1. Hakea rhombales, Florabase, Western Australian Herbarium, https://florabase.dbca.wa.gov.au/browse/profile/2200
  2. Hakea rhombales, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hakea_rhombales (last visited July 22, 2021).
  3. Hakea rhombales, Flora NT, Northern Territory Government, http://eflora.nt.gov.au/factsheet?id=5073

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