They are found throughout the country, with the highest species diversity being found in the south west of Western Australia.
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They can reach 1–6 m in height, and have spirally arranged leaves 2–20 cm long, simple or compound, sometimes (e.g. H. suaveolens) with the leaflets thin cylindrical and rush-like.
Consequently, they are key pollinators of many flowering plant species, many of which are endemic to Australia such as Banksia, Hakea, Xanthorrhoea (Yacka), and Acacia.
Marri seeds are the preferred diet, but birds also extract seeds from Karri (Eucalyptus marginata), woody pear (Xylomelum), Grevillea, Hakea, and She-oak (Casuarina), as well as insects such as psyllids, and even orchard fruit such as apples and pears.
The nest is built by the female; it is a round or domed structure made of loosely woven grasses and spider webs, with an entrance in one side close to the ground and well-concealed in thick and often thorny vegetation, such as Acacia pulchella or a species of Hakea.
The last nest of the Western Ground Parrot was found in 1913, and was described as a slight depression among low prickly vegetation (possibly the genus Hakea) on a low ridge.
Hakea | Hakea salicifolia | Hakea petiolaris | Hakea laurina | hakea |
Stage 2 of the building program consisted of the constructing of the remaining 4 Houses: Fern, Hakea, Grevillea and Eucalyptus, as well as the construction of a Commonwealth-funded Language Centre on the Ann Street Site, costing $2 million.
The larvae feed on a wide range of plants, including Hedera helix, Pelargonium zonale, Juglans regia, Salvia officinalis, Pinus radiata, Rosa odorata, Gardenia jasminoides, Citrus limon, Hardenbergia violacea and Cassia, Acacia, Eucalyptus, Bursaria and Hakea species.
Hakea petiolaris, the sea-urchin hakea, a shrub or small tree species endemic to the south-west of Western Australia
Preiss is commemorated in the names of about 100 species of flora in Western Australia, including plants in the genera Acacia, Allocasuarina, Eucalyptus, Grevillea, Hakea, Kunzea, Melaleuca, Santalum, Xanthorrhoea and Callitris.
Although it may eat bulbs, tubers, seeds, insects, and resin of the hakea plant, the bulk of its nutrients are derived from underground fungi which it digs out with its strong foreclaws.