Family

Fabaceae

Distribution

Restricted to a small area in Mundubbera Shire, c. 45 km SSE of Mundubbera, Qld.

Description

Shrub to 0.5 m high; decumbent. Branchlets terete, velvety with white hairs, viscid. Stipules to c. 1 mm long. Phyllodes 13–19 per whorl, straight or slightly incurved in upper part, ±terete, 5–30 mm long, tapered at base, abruptly mucronate with mucro 0.2–0.5 mm long, sparsely hairy, viscid, with obscure venation. Peduncles 10–20 (–30) mm long, viscid. Heads 35–40-flowered. Flowers 5-merous; calyx 1.7–2.2 mm long; calyx lobes strongly incurved, lanceolate-ovate, obtuse, sparsely hairy; corolla lobes smooth, sparsely hairy. Pods sessile, flat, 11–27 mm long, 5–6 mm wide, viscid. Seeds longitudinal, c. 5 mm long, shiny, black, slightly viscid, ridged along middle; pleurogram obscure.

Phenology

Flowers Aug. and probably Sept.; fruiting in Nov.

Habitat

Grows on a granite rock outcrop at c. 440 m among Triodia sp. with a scattered overstorey of Eucalyptus, Grevillea, Acacia and Xanthorrhoea.

Specimens

Qld: 5.5 km W of Toondahra Stn, P.I.Forster 4827 (BRI).

Notes

Acacia porcata appears to be most closely related to A. longipedunculata but differs in having smooth corolla lobes and a pod with a longitudinal ridge. The calyx is also smooth and thinner. Acacia porcata has sepals more similar to those of A. galioides, A. chippendalei and A. orthotricha, but in other characters is not particularly close to these taxa. The pod of A. porcata is unlike that of any other species of the section and is also notable for the small number of septa and seeds, single-seeded pods being quite common. Although several species of Acacia have viscid foliage, no other has been recorded with viscid seeds.

FOA Reference

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

Author

A.S.George

Minor edits by J.Reid