Acacia ammobia Maconochie
WATTLE
Acacias of Australia
Common Name
Mt Conner Wattle
Family
Fabaceae
Distribution
Occurs in south-western N.T., from 130 km W to 50 km E of Uluru, and in north-western S.A. in the Indulkana Ra.
Description
Shrub or small tree, 1.5–7 m high. Bark splitting longitudinally or fibrous, grey to black. Branchlets angular or flattened, soon becoming terete, pale yellow or light brown, glabrous. Phyllodes linear, flat, 11–24.5 (–27) cm long, 4–10 mm wide, tapered toward apex and base, with apex drawn out into an elongate slender blunt tip, coriaceous, with subprominent midnerve and 8–11 minor non-anastomosing nerves per mm; gland 1, very inconspicuous, basal, 1–3 mm above pulvinus. Spikes single or paired on axillary shoots that sometimes become leafy, 2–5 cm long, densely flowered, yellow. Flowers 5-merous; calyx 1–1.25 mm long, dissected to 1/10–1/5, basally villous, with orange-brown scurf on lobes; corolla 1.3–1.6 mm long, dissected to 1/3–1/2, glabrous; ovary densely villous. Pods linear, slightly constricted between and strongly raised over seeds, 5.5–11 cm long, 2–3 mm wide, with margins nerve-like, coriaceous, dark brown, glabrous. Seeds longitudinal, narrowly oblong to broadly elliptic, dorsiventrally flattened, 3–4 mm long, dark brown; areole small, surrounded by pale U-shaped pleurogram; funicle folded and thickened into cupular aril.
Phenology
Flowers Aug.–Oct.
Habitat
Usually in sandy soils, often on dunes, or in gravelly soils, with spinifex.
Specimens
N.T.: 31.1 miles [50 km] E of Ayers Rock [Uluru], 14 Sept. 1956, G.Chippendale s.n. (CANB, DNA, NSW); c. 30 miles [48 km] E of Ayers Rock [Uluru], 28 Aug. 1980, R.Horner s.n. (NSW); 50 miles [c. 80 km] W of Ayers Rock [Uluru], P.K.Latz 823 (DNA, NSW); 13 km E of Irvin Creek, Petermann area, P.K.Latz 11681 (AD, NT, DNA, PERTH); 39 km E of Ayers Rock [Uluru], L.Ulyatt 121 (BRI, DNA, NSW, PERTH). S.A: upper slope of Indulkana Ra., Anangu Pitjantjatjara Lands, P.J.Lang & P.D.Canty BS23-29140 (AD).
Notes
Allied to A. undoolyana.
Details of ecology, utilisation, etc. of A. ammobia are given in J.W.Turnbull (ed.), Multipurpose Austral. Trees & Shrubs 94 (1986). Details of the aboriginal use of this fire-sensitive rare plant are given by P.Latz, Bushfires & Bushtucker 86 (1995).
FOA Reference
Data derived from Flora of Australia Volumes 11A (2001), 11B (2001) and 12 (1998), products of ABRS, ©Commonwealth of Australia
Author
Dr M.D.Tindale and Dr P.G.Kodela with the assistance of M.Bedward, S.J.Davies, C.Herscovitch, D.A.Keith and/or D.A.Morrison
Minor edits by B.R.Maslin, J.Reid & J.Rogers
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