Family

Fabaceae

Distribution

Occurs in the Prince Regent R. area, NW Kimberley region, W.A. Besides the type this species is known only from the Cunningham specimen cited below. It is curious that A. lentiginea is so poorly known, especially given the considerable collecting that has occurred in the Prince Regent R. area in recent years. It is therefore assumed that the species is rare and has very specific habitat requirements.

Description

Shrub to c. 3 m high, spreading, glabrous, resinous. Branchlets terete, obscurely ribbed, minutely puncticulate. Phyllodes narrowly elliptic, shallowly falcately recurved, 7–10 cm long, 7–10 mm wide, thin, drying brownish, sparsely tuberculate, with numerous subdistant nerves; nerves 3–6, slightly more pronounced than the intervening venules; anastomoses few or absent; gland 1–2 mm above pulvinus, slightly swollen within lamina; pulvinus c. 1 mm long. Inflorescences simple; peduncles 2–3 mm long; spikes 1.5–3 cm long, narrow, ?cream-coloured. Flowers 5-merous; sepals free. Pods and seeds not seen (see below).

Specimens

W.A.: Brunswick Bay, Sept. 1820, A.Cunningham 296 (K, NSW).

Notes

If the pods which are described in the protologue of A. lentiginea in fact belong to this species then they are probably very similar to those of A. tenuispica. Acacia tenuispica differs most obviously from A. lentiginea in its ribbed, angled branchlets and its shorter, ±straight phyllodes. In Gardner’s field book the flowers of A. lentiginea are described as cream-coloured; in A. tenuispica the spikes are golden. Similar to A. plectocarpa subsp. plectocarpa which is recognised by its hairy ovary and calyx, and transversely wrinkled pulvinus 2–3 mm long (smooth and c. 1 mm long in A. lentiginea). Perhaps related to A. kimberleyensis.

FOA Reference

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

Author

B.R.Maslin