Family

Fabaceae

Distribution

Occurs from Lake Grace to near Hatter Hill (which is c. 145 km ENE of Lake Grace) and Lake King area (which is c. 115 km E of Lake Grace) with one collection from near Muckinwobert Rock which is c. 100 km SE of Lake King, south-western W.A.

Description

Shrub 0.35–2 m high. Branchlets slightly angled, glabrous except minutely puberulous in phyllode-axils. Phyllodes linear to linear-oblanceolate, straight to slightly incurved, 2.5–4.5 cm long, 1.5–4 mm wide, acute to subobtuse, excentrically arcuate-mucronate, sometimes ±uncinate, semi-rigid, glabrous, obviously or obscurely 1–3-nerved per face. Inflorescences simple, 1 per axil; peduncles 0–0.5 mm long, puberulous; basal bracts semicircular, concave, thick; receptacle puberulous; heads obloid to short-cylindrical, 6–9 mm long, 4–4.5 mm diam., golden. Flowers 4-merous; sepals 1/2–2/3-united. Pods linear, strongly raised over and constricted between seeds, straight to slightly curved, to 6.5 cm long, 3.5 mm wide, crustaceous, longitudinally wrinkled, glabrous. Seeds longitudinal, broadly elliptic, c. 3 mm long, dull, black, surface alveolate-verruculose; aril apical, 2/3 as long as seed.

Habitat

Grows mostly in gravelly sand over laterite, sometimes on rises and hilltops, in heath, scrub and mallee shrubland.

Specimens

W.A.: 42.7 km ENE of Muckinwobert Rock, M.A.Burgman 2185 & S.McNee (PERTH); 20 km SW of Newdegate, J.M.Koch N130 (PERTH); 17.5 km E of Lake Grace towards Newdegate, B.R.Maslin 3428 (PERTH).

Notes

Closely related to A. multispicata, but A. singula is distinguished by its generally shorter, always flat, 1–3-nerved, slightly shiny phyllodes, see R.S.Cowan & B.R.Maslin, Nuytsia 46–47 (1995), for further discussion.

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, B.R.Maslin