Family

Fabaceae

Distribution

Restricted to an area from Kimba SE to Cowell, NE Eyre Peninsula, S.A.

Description

Shrub 1–1.5 m high, dense, spreading, rigid. Branchlets strongly ribbed when young, with sparse minute tubercle-based hairs. Stipules persistent, spinose, straight to slightly recurved, to 1.5 mm long. Phyllodes sessile, mostly patent, linear, straight, compressed, 5–23 mm long, 1–2 mm wide, pungent, rigid, sparsely scabridulous or micro-tuberculate, strongly 6-nerved in all (2 per face); gland basal. Inflorescences simple, 1 (or 2) per axil; peduncles (3–) 5–7 (–9) mm long, appressed-puberulous; heads globular, 4–6 mm diam., 13–25-flowered, golden. Flowers 5-merous; sepals free. Pods linear, slightly raised over seeds, ±undulate, curved to irregularly bent and folded, to 9 cm long, 2–3.3 mm wide, crustaceous, sparsely strigose. Seeds longitudinal, elliptic-oblong, 2.5–3.5 mm long, light red-brown to dark greenish grey; aril white.

Habitat

Grows in gravelly loam and sand, often on hills, in open mallee scrub and open heath/tall shrubland.

Specimens

S.A.: WSW of Rarma Downs HS, P.J.Lang 1809 (PERTH).

Notes

Most clearly related to A. enterocarpa which has shorter, inconspicuous, non-spinose stipules, longer phyllodes with 10–12 nerves, more peduncles per node and regularly, tightly folded pods. Also superficially similar to A. rhigiophylla which has cylindric to obloid heads of tetramerous flowers.

FOA Reference

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

Author

R.S.Cowan