Acacia saxicola Pedley
Acacia saxicola Pedley
Fabaceae
Known only from Mt Maroon, Maroon Natl Park, S of Boonah in south-eastern Qld.
Diffuse much-branched shrub to 1.5 m high. Branchlets sparsely hirsutellous or glabrous. Stipules 1.5–3 mm long. Phyllodes crowded, scattered, some subverticillate, subsessile, patent to inclined, lanceolate to ±narrowly triangular, straight to shallowly recurved, 7.5–14 mm long, 1.7–3 mm wide, acuminate, pungent, rigid, dark glossy green, glabrous; midrib prominent; gland obscure, 2–3 mm above base. Inflorescences 1-headed rudimentary racemes with axes c. 0.5 mm long; peduncles 6–15 mm long, stout, 0.5–1 mm diam., glabrous; basal bract often trifid; heads globular, 13 mm diam., 40–50-flowered, pale golden yellow; bracteoles acuminate, exserted beyond flowers in buds. Flowers 5-merous; sepals free, oblanceolate; petals 1-nerved. Pods to 3 cm long, 5–6 mm wide, firmly chartaceous to ±crustaceous, irregularly undulate, dark brown, glabrous. Seeds longitudinal, depressed-globular, 4 mm long, exarillate.
It is a major constituent of heath on the summit of the mountain (alt. c. 900 m) and grows on rocky slopes in soil pockets within rock crevices.
Qld: Mt Maroon, S.L.Everist 7050 (BRI).
A member of the ‘A. ulicifolia group’ and distinguished from A. ulicifolia itself by broader phyllodes, stouter peduncles, pale golden heads and exserted bracteoles. Its phyllodes resemble those of A. siculiformis.
Data derived from Flora of Australia Volumes 11A (2001), 11B (2001) and 12 (1998), products of ABRS, ©Commonwealth of Australia
B.R.Maslin
Minor edits by J.Rogers
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