Family

Fabaceae

Distribution

Occurs in all mainland States except W.A. and Vic.

Description

Tree to 14 m tall. Branchlets densely pubescent, with hairs obscuring ribs when young. Phyllodes straight to shallowly recurved, flat, 2–6.5 (–8) cm long, (2–) 3–8 (–13) mm wide, densely pubescent when young. Flowers with sepals 0.6 mm long, rarely to 0.8 mm, free or occasionally united in a short tube; corolla 1–1.3 (–1.5) mm long; stamens c. 2.5 mm (rarely to 3 mm) long. Pods oblong, to 5 cm long, 7–17 mm wide with wings 1–2 mm wide or wider, chartaceous, brown, densely pubescent when young, becoming glabrate, reticulately nerved. Seeds oblique to transverse, oval to oblong in outline, 3–4.5 mm long, 2.5–3.5 mm wide; aril obliquely cupular, pale yellow.

Habitat

In south-central Qld and central N.S.W. it is usually found on deep loamy soils often in situations where it receives run-off water from adjacent hills, often forming open forest and woodland communities alone or with Eucalyptus populnea, E. intertexta or other eucalypts. In more arid regions it occurs in lower, more open communities such as low woodlands and shrublands.

Specimens

N.T.: 27 miles [43 km] N of L. Amadeus, G.Chippendale NT6345 (BRI, DNA, MEL). S.A.: 21 km W of Mt Christie, F.A.Mowling 66 (AD). Qld: Charleville, C.E.Hubbard 8633 (BRI, K). N.S.W.: 7 miles [11 km] S of Cobar, E.J.McBarron 16851 (MEL, NSW).

Notes

L. Pedley, Flora of Australia 11B: 321 (2001), described Acacia aneura var. major and A. aneura var. intermedia (now treated as a synonym of Acacia aneura) as being closely related and one possibly being an ecotype of the other, and they were distinguished from A. aneura var. aneura by their wide phyllodes and winged pods.

Plants from the vicinity of the eastern end of the Hamersley Range, Western Australia, were placed with doubt as var. major by Pedley (2001). The examples provided have since been identified as A. aneura (B.R. Maslin 4620 and Leeuwen 838) and a hybrid involving A. ayersiana, possibly A. aneura × ayersiana (B.R. Maslin 7235). Their phyllodes (6.5–8 cm) and spikes (to 4 cm) are both longer than is normal in A. aneura var. major.

B.R. Randell (Journal of the Adelaide Botanic Gardens 14: 125, 1992) referred material of A. aneura var. major to A. ayersiana var. latifolia (see, however, A. ayersiana).

As noted under A. aneura the status of var. major requires further study. The above treatment of L. Pedley, Flora of Australia 11B: 319 (2001) requires re-assessment.

FOA Reference

Data derived from Flora of Australia Volumes 11A (2001), 11B (2001) and 12 (1998), products of ABRS, ©Commonwealth of Australia

Author

L.Pedley

Minor edits by B.R.Maslin