About

Hakea divaricata, commonly known as needlewood, corkbark tree or fork-leaved corkwood, is a tree or shrub in the family Proteaceae native to an area in central Australia. A slow growing species with up to 120 showy cream to greenish-yellow flowers in long racemes from June to November.

The Alyawarr peoples know the plant as ntywey-arrengk, the Eastern Arrernte as untyeye and the Western Arrernteas ntyweye. The Kaytetye know it as ntyarleyarle or ntyeye, the Pintupi Luritja as piruwa, the Pitjantjatjara as piruwa or ularama and the Warlpiri as kumpalpa, piriwa or yarrkampi.

How to grow it

Hakea divaricata is planted as an ornamental or street tree and is particularly suited to arid areas as it is both frost and drought tolerant. The needlewood hakea is able to resprout epicormically from the lignotuber following fire.

Indigenous Australian peoples have used the plant as a food source especially the fruit flesh, the roots are used as a water source. The gum can be extracted from the tree and the wood used to make weapons, implements and traps. They also extracted honey from the flowers or soaked the flowers in water to produce a sweet drink.

Where it grows

The needlewood hakea is mostly found in the south of the Northern Territory, the Pilbara and northern Goldfields of Western Australia, south west Queensland and the Far North of South Australia. It is found on red sand plains, around bases of hills and rockholes, on dune swales and along watercourses and grows well in sandy soils around sandstone or limestone. It is often part of open woodland communities, especially mulga woodlands, and chenopod rich plains.

Other Hakea plants

Mulloway Needle Bush · Column Hakea · Hakea acuminata · Hakea adnata · Enigma Hakea · Hakea ambigua · Prickly Hakea · Hakea anadenia · Yellow Hakea · Big Nellie Hakea · Hakea asperma · Hakea auriculata