It is listed as Vulnerable under the EPBC Act (i.e. facing a high risk of extinction in the wild in the medium-term future, as determined in accordance with prescribed criteria). The listing is because of its risk of local extinction due to low population numbers.
Until recently it was considered to be a variant of Hakea trineura, which has yellow flowers and only occurs in Queensland.
Leaf material from a plant growing at the Australian Botanic Garden was used by botanists as a source of DNA for their research. Botanic gardens provide researchers with easily accessible wild-sourced material.
Genus: Hakea - After Baron Christian Ludwig von Hake, 1745-1818, German patron of botany.
Species: archaeoides - From Greek, archaeos, original or beginning, and the suffix -oides, resembling.