Hakea costata

Hakea costata, commonly known as the ribbed hakea, is a shrub in the family Proteaceae native to Western Australia. A multi-stemmed small shrub producing attractive pink or white brush-like blooms rich in nectar from July to October.

Description
Hakea costata is an erect non-lignotuberous shrub growing to 0.3 to 2 m high. The smaller branches are densely covered in long soft straight hairs when flowering. Leaves vary depending on where they appear on the shrub. Near the flowers the leaves are mostly linear, rigid and triangular in cross-section 8 to 16 mm long and 1 to 2.5 mm wide. The leaves below flowers are flat, narrowly egg-shaped to oval shaped 2 to 5 mm wide. The leaves upper surface have no obvious veins whereas the underside has a prominent mid-vein. The inflorescence has 8-12 strongly scented white or pink flowers in racemes 8-16 cm long appearing  in leaf axils from July to October. The perianth is cream-white, pistil 6 to 9 mm long. The small fruit are attached to the stem without a stalk, more or less egg-shaped 09-1 cm long and 0.6-0.8 mm wide slightly curved ending with a short beak. The fruit surface is smooth to slightly warty. The black-brown seeds are more or less elliptic shaped with a wide wing down one side and a narrower wing down the other.

Taxonomy and naming
Hakea costata was first formally described by the botanist Carl Meissner in 1845 and published in Johann Georg Christian Lehmann's book Plantae Preissianae. The specific epithet is derived from the Latin (costatus) meaning "ribbed", referring to the longitudinal ribbing of the leaves.

Distribution
Ribbed hakea is endemic to an area along the west coast in the Wheatbelt and Mid West regions of Western Australia from about Kalbarri in the north to Yanchep in the south growing in sandy soils over limestone or laterite.