Common Name

Narrow-leaf Bower Wattle, Sticky Bower Wattle, River Wattle, Bower Wattle

Family

Fabaceae

Distribution

Restricted to a coastal zone of south-eastern Australia from near Bega, N.S.W., S to the NE tip of Vic. near Howe Hill.

Description

Tree to 12 m high, ±viscid, with subpendulous branches. Branchlets with longitudinal green to brown, low ribs alternating with ±resinous bands, later terete and ribbed, glabrous. Phyllodes very narrowly elliptic, ±incurved, (4–) 6–9 cm long, 4–11 mm wide, l:w = 8-18, acute to acuminate, thin, glabrous except margins appressed-puberulous, resinous-punctate, with 2–5 distant main nerves per face and some weaker longitudinal nerves between, with anastomoses few and obscure. Inflorescences simple, 1-3 per axil; peduncles 6–11 mm long, antrorsely subappressed-puberulous; basal bract persistent; heads globular, 6–7 mm diam., 20–25-flowered. Flowers 5‑merous; sepals united. Pods linear, to 7.5 cm long, 5 mm wide, firmly chartaceous, glabrous. Seeds longitudinal, oblong, 4 mm long, glossy, dark brown; aril small, terminal.

Habitat

Grows in moist sandy/shaly soils and conglomerates, especially along streams in gullies at margin of rain-forests, and on low hillsides.

Specimens

N.S.W.: 4.8 km N of Pambula on the Princes Hwy, R.Coveny 2927 (MEL, NSW); 3.2 km SE of Wonboyn, R.Coveny 2938 (NSW). Vic.: Harrison’s Ck, Howe Ra., East Gippsland, D.Cameron 3951 (NSW).

Notes

Colour of the flower-heads is not recorded on specimens available but they are said to be ‘soft pale-yellow’ in this species and ‘pale lemon-yellow’ in the closely related A. cognata, fide L.F.Costermans, Native Trees & Shrubs SE Australia 325 (1981). These two species are members of the A. verniciflua complex and the relationship between them is discussed in R.S.Cowan & B.R.Maslin, Nuytsia 10: 78 (1995). Also similar to A. veronica.

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

B.R.Maslin