Hovea pungens

Hovea pungens, commonly known as devil's pins, is a shrub in the family Fabaceae, native to Western Australia.[1] The Noongar name for the plant is buyenak.[2]

The erect pungent shrub typically grows to a height of 0.2 to 1.8 metres (1 to 6 ft). It blooms from May to November producing distinctive blue purple flowers.[1]

The species was first formally described by the botanist]] George Bentham in 1837 as part of the work Leguminosae. Enumeratio plantarum quas in Novae Hollandiae ora austro-occidentali ad fluvium Cygnorum et in Sinu Regis Georgii collegit Carolus liber baro de Hügel. Four synonyms are known; Hovea pungens var. major, Hovea pungens var. ulicina, Hovea pungens var. pungens and Hovea ulicina.[3]

Found in among granite outcrops and coastal limestone on flats undulating sandplains and flats, the species has a distribution on the south west coast in the Wheatbelt, Peel, South West, Great Southern and Goldfields-Esperance regions of Western Australia. It grows in shallow gravelly, sandy, loamy and clay soils over rock.[1]