Hicksbeachia pilosa is a small tree in the family Proteaceae

Proteaceae

Proteaceae is a family of flowering plants distributed in the Southern Hemisphere. The family comprises about 80 genera with about 1600 species. Together with the Platanaceae and Nelumbonaceae they make up the order Proteales. Well known genera include Protea, Banksia, Embothrium, Grevillea,...

. This rare species is native to subtropical rainforest

Rainforest

Rainforests are forests characterized by high rainfall, with definitions based on a minimum normal annual rainfall of 1750-2000 mm...

 in Queensland

Queensland

Queensland is a state of Australia, occupying the north-eastern section of the mainland continent. It is bordered by the Northern Territory, South Australia and New South Wales to the west, south-west and south respectively. To the east, Queensland is bordered by the Coral Sea and Pacific Ocean...

 in Australia

Australia

Australia , officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country in the Southern Hemisphere comprising the mainland of the Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous smaller islands in the Indian and Pacific Oceans. It is the world's sixth-largest country by total area...

. It was first described in 1988 by Australian botanist Peter Weston

Peter Weston

Peter Weston is a British science fiction fan. Now retired, he lives in Birmingham, UK.Weston's made many contributions in fan writing, fanzine editing, convention-running and in local science fiction clubs. His 1960s pseudonym "Malcolm Edwards" caused some confusion several years later, when a...

, after a collection by Garry Sankowsky and Peter Hind in 1986 at Bobbin Bobbin Falls in North Queensland. Its specific name is the Latin

Latin

Latin is an Italic language originally spoken in Latium and Ancient Rome. It, along with most European languages, is a descendant of the ancient Proto-Indo-European language. Although it is considered a dead language, a number of scholars and members of the Christian clergy speak it fluently, and...

adjective pilosus "hairy".

Hicksbeachia pilosa is found in rainforest from the Big Tableland to the Cardwell Range in northeastern Queensland.