Hakea cygnus

Hakea cygnus is an upright non-lignotuberous shrub growing to {{convert|0.4-2|m|ft|sigfig=1|abbr=on}} high. The smaller branches are densely covered in flattened silky hairs at flowering time. The leaves are variable, they may be flat and thick, narrowly egg-shaped widest in the middle, more or less needle-shaped or triangular in cross-section. Leaves are smooth {{convert|2-7.5|cm|in|sigfig=2|abbr=on}} long and {{convert|1.2-9|mm|in|sigfig=2|abbr=on}} wide with prominent veins on the leaf margin. The upper side of the leaves has 1-3 obscure longitudinal veins, the underside veins barely visible. The inflorescence consists of 6-14 creamy-white flowers in racemes, appearing upright and singly in leaf axils. The cream-white pedicels are smooth, rarely with soft short flattened hairs. The perianth a cream-white and the style is {{convert|5.5-7|mm|in|sigfig=2|abbr=on}} long. The oval to egg-shaped fruit are {{convert|2.1-3.7|cm|in|sigfig=2|abbr=on}} long and {{convert|1.2-2|cm|in|sigfig=2|abbr=on}} wide growing at an angle on a short thick stalk. The fruit is barely beaked but has a short prominent point. The seed are pale brown with darker streaks, are broadly egg-shaped to almost triangular or circular and {{convert|12-20|mm|in|sigfig=2|abbr=on}} long. Flowers appear either from May to June or August to September.{{cite book |last1=Young |first1=Jennifer |title="Hakeas of Western Australia:A Field and Identification Guide" |date=2006 |publisher=J A Young |isbn=0-9585778-2-X}}{{cite web |last1=Barker |first1=Robyn Mary |last2=Haegi |first2=Laurence Arnold Robert |last3=Barker |first3=William Robert |title=Hakea cygnus |url=https://profiles.ala.org.au/opus/foa/profile/Hakea%20cygnus |publisher=Flora of Australia. Australian Biological Resources Study, Department of Climate Change, Energy, the Environment and Water: Canberra. |access-date=19 March 2025}}{{cite book |last1=Holliday |first1=Ivan |title="Hakeas a Field and Garden Guide" |date=2005 |publisher=Reed New Holland |isbn=1-877069-14-0}}{{cite web |title=Hakea cygnus |url=https://florabase.dbca.wa.gov.au/browse/profile/49948 |website=FloraBase |publisher=Western Australian Government |access-date=19 March 2025}}

This species was first formally described in 1987 by Byron Barnard Lamont who gave it the name Hakea cygna and published the description in the Botanical Journal of the Linnean Society.{{cite web |title=Hakea cygna |url=https://biodiversity.org.au/nsl/services/rest/instance/apni/51417647 |publisher=Australian Plant Name Index |access-date=19 March 2025}} In 2019, Alex George noted that under Article 23.5 of the International Code of Nomenclature for algae, fungi, and plants, the specific epithet for this species should be (cygnus), meaning "swan".{{cite web |title=Hakea cygnus |url=https://biodiversity.org.au/nsl/services/rest/instance/apni/51418157 |publisher=Australian Plant Name Index |access-date=19 March 2025}}{{cite journal |last1=George |first1=Alex S. |title=On orthography. |journal=Australian Systematic Botany Society Newsletter |date=2019 |volume=181 |page=39 |url=https://www.biodiversitylibrary.org/item/298667#page/41/mode/1up |access-date=19 March 2025}}

In the same edition of the Botanical Journal of the Linnean Society, Byron Lamont described two subspecies of Hakea cygnus, and the names are accepted by the Australian Plant Census.

• Hakea cygnus subsp. cygnus{{cite web |title=Hakea cygnus subsp. cygnus |url=https://biodiversity.org.au/nsl/services/apc-format/display/93377 |publisher=Australian Plant Census |access-date=19 March 2025}} has flat, thick, linear to narrowly egg-shaped leaves {{convert|2.5-9|mm|in|sigfig=2|abbr=on}} wide.{{cite web |last1=Barker |first1=Robyn Mary |last2=Haegi |first2=Laurence Arnold Robert |last3=Barker |first3=William Robert |title=Hakea cygnus subsp. cygnus |url=https://profiles.ala.org.au/opus/foa/profile/Hakea%20cygnus%20subsp.%20cygnus |publisher=Flora of Australia. Australian Biological Resources Study, Department of Climate Change, Energy, the Environment and Water: Canberra. |access-date=19 March 2025}}
• Hakea cygnus subsp. needlei{{cite web |title=Hakea cygnus subsp. needlei |url=https://biodiversity.org.au/nsl/services/apc-format/display/93379|publisher=Australian Plant Census |access-date=19 March 2025}} has variable leaves either narrowly linear, needle-shaped or triangular in cross-section and {{convert|1.2-2|mm|in|sigfig=2|abbr=on}} wide. Restricted to an area south of Lake King.{{cite web |last1=Barker |first1=Robyn Mary |last2=Haegi |first2=Laurence Arnold Robert |last3=Barker |first3=William Robert |title=Hakea cygnus subsp. needlei |url=https://profiles.ala.org.au/opus/foa/profile/Hakea%20cygnus%20subsp.%20needlei |publisher=Flora of Australia. Australian Biological Resources Study, Department of Climate Change, Energy, the Environment and Water: Canberra. |access-date=19 March 2025}}

Hakea cygnus is widely distributed from Geraldton to Ravensthorpe in the south-east and east to Cape Arid. It grows in heath or mallee-heath on gravelly loams, sandy loams, white yellow or grey sand, often over laterite.

• Subspecies cygnus is widespread from Eneabba in the north to the wheatbelt region of Western Australia to Merredin and south to Esperance.
• Subspecies needlei has a restricted distribution with scattered populations just south of Lake King and in the Pallarup Nature Reserve.

Hakea cygnus subsp. needlei is classified as "Priority Two" by the Western Australian Government Department of Parks and Wildlife, meaning that it is poorly known and from only one or a few locations.{{cite web|title=Conservation codes for Western Australian Flora and Fauna|url=https://www.epa.wa.gov.au/sites/default/files/Referral_Documentation/DWERDT480152%20%20App%206%20-%202020%20Western%20Australian%20and%20Commonwealth%20of%20Australia%20Conservation%20Codes%282%29.pdf |publisher=Government of Western Australia Biodiversity, Conservation and Attractions|accessdate=18 March 2025}}

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Category:Eudicots of Western Australia

cygnus

Category:Plants described in 1987