Common Name

Sword Wattle, Sword-leaf Wattle

Family

Fabaceae

Distribution

Occurs in N.S.W. on tablelands and western slopes of the Great Divide from Warialda S to Cowra. The S.A. occurrence of this species cited by J.M.Black, Fl. S. Australia 1st edn, 2: 280 (1924), was based on a misidentification of A. beckleri.

Description

Open shrub 1–4 m high. Branchlets red-brown, glabrous. Phyllodes rather spreading, sometimes deflexed, narrowly oblanceolate, incurved, 7–12 (–15) cm long, (3-) 5–12 mm wide, narrowed at base, obtuse, coriaceous, glabrous; midrib and margins prominent; lateral nerves obscure; glands 3–6, with the lowermost ±basal. Raceme axes 1–6 (–8) cm long, rather stout, glabrous; peduncles 3–6 (–8) mm long, rather stout, glabrous; heads globular, c. 1 cm diam. at anthesis, densely 30–50-flowered, golden; bracteole laminae evident in buds, ±circular, dark brown to black, white-fimbriolate. Flowers 5-merous; sepals free. Pods linear, rounded over seeds, to c. 13 cm long, 4–6 mm wide, thinly coriaceous, blackish, glabrous. Seeds longitudinal, oblong to elliptic, 4–5 mm long; funicle encircling seed in a single fold, light reddish; aril clavate.

Habitat

Grows in rocky areas in dry sclerophyll forest.

Specimens

N.S.W.: on southern outskirts of Rylstone township, B.R.Maslin 5910 (NSW, PERTH); Pilliga East State Forest in vicinity of Willala Hills, G.Medhurst 11 (NSW).

Notes

A member of the ‘Acacia microbotrya group’, sometimes confused with the more westerly distributed A. beckleri which has narrowly elliptic phyllodes, thick, minutely hairy peduncles, usually 50–70 (–140)-flowered heads and short funicles which do not encircle the seeds.

FOA Reference

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

Author

Minor edits by B.R.Maslin

B.R.Maslin