Hakea clavata, commonly known as coastal hakea[1] is a shrub that is endemic to an area along the south coast of Western Australia. It has thick leaves, pink and grey flowers and grows on rocky outcrops.
Hakea clavata is a lignotuberous spreading or sprawling shrub up to 2.5m (08.2feet) wide and 0.5to high. Mid-green leaves are thick, flattened, long and narrow 2to long and 4to wide, ending in a hard sharp point. Sometimes club-shaped widening at the apex. The inflorescence has 60-80 white and pink flowers appearing in short racemes in leaf axils and tips of branches. The perianth has a pink claw, grey limbs and white interior. Woody fruit are egg-shaped with the widest part nearer the stem 1.5to long and 0.9to wide. Alternatively egg-shaped with the wider section toward the apex, both shapes having two small horns at the back of the fruit. The black-brown seeds have an obliquely obovate shape and a length of 163NaN3. Each seed has a broad wing along one side of seed body.[2] [3]
Hakea clavata was first formally described in 1805 by Jacques Labillardière in Novae Hollandiae plantarum specimen. Labillardière may have made a type collection when at the Esperance region in December 1792.[4] The specific epithet (clavata) is derived from the Latin word clava meaning "club",[5] referring to the club-shape of the leaves.
Coastal hakea is found on the mainland and on some of the islands between Israelite Bay and Esperance and a single population is known at Hopetoun to the west.[6] The range covers southeastern areas of the Southwest Botanical Province. The species grows in rocky sandy clay soils among granite outcrops and withstands salt laden winds.