Commonly known as Royal Hakea, Hakea victoria is one of “our” planet’s most visually arresting plants.
Generally, it is their flowers that make certain flowering plants globally-celebrated, and keenly sought by gardeners.
With Hakea victoria, however, it is the leaves.
Royal Hakea flowers are attractive, but relatively discreet, not flamboyant.
As you can see, the huge leaves are definitely not discreet!
Their phenomenal range of colour variegation has to be seen to be believed…most especially so if you are lucky enough to see them in the wild, in the early morning or late afternoon.
To enjoy that experience, “simply” drive south-east of Perth for more than 500 kilometres!
On a map of Australia, this species’ entire natural range is little more than a dot, as you can see here.
And they only grow in certain parts of that “dot”; almost every naturally-occurring Royal Hakea grows on rocky ground, within the Fitzgerald Biosphere.
“The Fitz” is one of my favourite wild places, anywhere on “our” planet.
If you reach Perth, but regard Fitzgerald River National Park as “too far away”, your then best-available Royal Hakea experience can be enjoyed just outside the CBD: in Kings Park, just behind its Education Centre.
I took this post’s photo there at 10.40 am on 20 September 2025; had we been there four hours earlier, or five hours later, the leaves would have been even more arresting.
Click here to see Royal Hakea, and some other extraordinary flowering plants, at home in “The Fitz”.