Common Name

Dwarf Silver-wattle

Family

Fabaceae

Distribution

Endemic to Vic. in the central highlands from the Healesville–Warburton area, the top of Mt Macedon, near Creswick and the Otway Ra. further S.

Description

Tree 2–6 (–12) m high. Bark smooth, silvery or grey. Branchlets terete but angled towards apices, glabrous, occasionally appressed-puberulous, purplish black or reddish brown, often lightly pruinose; ridges to 0.5 mm high. Young foliage-tips yellowish-pubescent or greenish when less hairy. Leaves ±coriaceous, dark green, paler beneath; petiole above pulvinus (0.1–) 0.5–1.6 cm long, grey-puberulous or glabrous, usually with a gland at or near basal pinnae; rachis 2–11.5 cm long, densely puberulous or glabrous, with prominent, brown pouch-like jugary glands; interjugary glands rare; pinnae 6–26 pairs, mostly 1–3 cm long, with lower pinnae smaller; pinnules 9–34 pairs, closely spaced, narrowly oblong to oblong or obovate, 1–2.5 mm long, 0.4–0.8 (–1) mm wide, minutely tuberculate, ciliate otherwise glabrous or with a few minute hairs, subacute, truncate, emarginate or broadly rounded at apex. Inflorescences in axillary racemes, or mostly in axillary or terminal false-panicles. Heads 12–20 (–30)-flowered, golden. Pods straight-sided to variably and irregularly constricted between seeds, 3–8.5 cm long, 9–20 mm wide, thinly coriaceous, purplish blue or reddish brown, often ±pruinose, sparsely puberulous or glabrous.

Phenology

Flowers Aug.–Oct.; fruits Jan., Feb.

Habitat

Grows usually in large stands, in subalpine eucalypt forest or in tall open forest.

Specimens

Vic.: Summit of Mt Macedon, E.F.Constable 5260 (A, AD, BRI, CANB, NSW, PERTH, TL, US); Mt St. Leonard, 9.7 km N of Healesville, E.F.Constable 5274 (AD, BRI, CANB, NSW, PERTH, UC, US); 2.4 km from junction of Myers Rd and the Healesville–Mt St. Leonard’s Road, A.B.Court & M.D.Tindale 802 (BRI, K, MEL, NSW, PE, US); 17.7 km W of Lavers Hill, M.D.Tindale s.n. (NSW63177); Great Ocean road, SW of Lavers Hill, 16 Jan. 1972, J.H.Willis (MEL, NSW).

Notes

In the Healesville-Mt St. Leonard area A. nanodealbata is characterised by densely appressed puberulous branchlets (glabrous elsewhere), petioles and rachises as well as by short petioles to 0.5 cm long, very short pinnae 0.7–1.5 cm long and very small pinnules 1–1.5 mm long. In the Otway Ra. this species is a larger, almost glabrous tree to 12.2 m high with 11–26 pairs of pinnae (instead of 6–16 pairs) growing in tall open forest with Eucalyptus regnans, E. globulus and Acacia dealbata.

Readily distinguished from A. dealbata by its glabrous or occasionally appressed puberulous branchlets (hairs present and patent in A. dealbata).

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 & J.Reid

M.D.Tindale, P.G.Kodela