Family

Fabaceae

Distribution

Occurs in the northern wheatbelt region of south-western W.A. where known from only two populations, one at Petrudor Rocks E of Kalannie, the other from near Koorda.

Description

Rigid, obconic shrub about 1.5 m high. Branchlets minutely hairy at extremities (hairs straight and patent or appressed), glabrescent. Phyllodes erect, oblong-elliptic to elliptic or +/- obovate, (7–) 10–20 mm long, (3–) 5–9 mm wide, acute to obtuse and terminated by a short, hard, brown, innocuous to coarsely pungent mucro, thickly coriaceous, minutely hairy as on branchlets, slightly greyish green, with numerous, closely parallel, very fine nerves that are closely spaced. Inflorescences mostly simple, 1–2 (–3) per axil; peduncles 5–8 mm long, widely spreading, dull red when in very young fruit, minutely hairy as on branchlets; heads globular, golden. Flowers 5-merous; sepals free. Pods and seeds unknown.

Habitat

The Petrudor Rocks population is large and occurs in hard granitic clay-loam beneath low mallee eucalypts in association with Acacia ligustrina and A. mackeyana.

Specimens

W.A.: about 15 km due SW of Kalannie, B.R.Maslin 7714 (PERTH); 14.5 km S of Koorda towards Cowcowing, B.R.Maslin 2009 (PERTH).

Notes

The taxonomic status of this apparently uncommon taxon needs to be assessed in the light of more collections; fruiting material in particular is needed. It is a member of the ‘A. ancistrophylla group’ and apparently most closely related to A. ancistrophylla from which it differs most obviously in having wider, minutely hairy phyllodes and generally longer peduncles.

FOA Reference

Flora of Australia Project

Author

B.R.Maslin