Alice Springs Flora •
Alice Springs FloraAlice Springs Flora Index Acacia ligulata Annual Yellowtop Apple Bush Bougainvillea Burdekin Plum Carob Tree (Ceratonia siliqa) Cattle Bush Desert Cotton (Aerva javanica) Desert Oak Eremophila Wildberry Feijoa sellowiana Flannel Cudweed Fork-leaf Corkwood Ghost Gum Golden Everlasting Kurrajong Lemon-flowered Gum MacDonnell’s Desert Fuchsia Native Bluebell Native Tomato Needlewood Olive Tree Perennial Yellow Top Rat’s Tail River Red Gum Inland River Red Gum Rosy Dock Round-leaved Mallee Scurvy Grass Silky Eremophila Stemodia viscosa Striped Mintbush Sturt’s Desert Pea Sturt’s Desert Rose Tangled Leschenaultia Tar Vine Weeping Bottlebrush White Cedar Yellow Billybutton Yellow-keeled Swainsona Yellow Oleander
Pictured here is a Needlewood (Hakea leucoptera) tree growing in a garden in Alice Springs. A scraggly tree (next to a fence line and closely planted with other plants) is just over 3 metres in height.
The sharp points of the leaves of the Hakea leucoptera is where it gets the common name Needlewood. These narrow cylindrical shaped leaves are straight (rarely curved), alternating up the stems, measuring between 2-10 cm long and about 1.2 to 2 mm in diameter.
Located at the base of the leaves are the spider-like flowers has 4 white to yellow ‘petals’ and are in clusters of 18-45 flowers.
The Hakea leucoptera is a shrub to small tree, whose white-creamed coloured to yellow flowers appear in early spring and summer.
The flowers attract a variety of insects including European Honey Bee (Apis mellifera), Soapberry Bug (Leptocoris sp), flies and other insects.
The Needlewood (Hakea leucoptera) in our Flora section, and the Needlewood Hakea can also be seen in the Olive Pink Botanic Garden in Alice Springs NT.
- Scientific classification
- Kingdom: Plantae
- Phylum: Charophyta
- Class: Equisetopsida
- Subclass: Magnoliidae
- Superorder: Proteanae
- Order: Proteales
- Family: Proteaceae
- Genus: Hakea
- Species: Hakea Leucoptera
Footnote & References
- Many thanks for help with the species ID to members of the Australian Indigenous Plant Identification Facebook group, https://www.facebook.com/groups/1469859343324569/
- Hakea leucoptera R.Br., Atlas of Living Australia, https://bie.ala.org.au/species/https://id.biodiversity.org.au/node/apni/2911444
- Hakea Leucoptera, Woolshed Thurgoona Landcare Group, https://wtlandcare.org/details/hakea-leucoptera/
Alice Springs FloraAlice Springs Flora Index Acacia ligulata Annual Yellowtop Apple Bush Bougainvillea Burdekin Plum Carob Tree (Ceratonia siliqa) Cattle Bush Desert Cotton (Aerva javanica) Desert Oak Eremophila Wildberry Feijoa sellowiana Flannel Cudweed Fork-leaf Corkwood Ghost Gum Golden Everlasting Kurrajong Lemon-flowered Gum MacDonnell’s Desert Fuchsia Native Bluebell Native Tomato Needlewood Olive Tree Perennial Yellow Top Rat’s Tail River Red Gum Inland River Red Gum Rosy Dock Round-leaved Mallee Scurvy Grass Silky Eremophila Stemodia viscosa Striped Mintbush Sturt’s Desert Pea Sturt’s Desert Rose Tangled Leschenaultia Tar Vine Weeping Bottlebrush White Cedar Yellow Billybutton Yellow-keeled Swainsona Yellow Oleander
Alice Springs FaunaAlice Springs Native Bees Alice Springs Beetles Alice Springs Birds Alice Springs Gastropods (Gastropoda) Alice Springs Insects Alice Springs Marsupials Alice Springs Reptiles Alice Springs Spiders