Family

Fabaceae

Distribution

Known only from the Bencubbin and Coolgardie–Kambalda areas, inland southern W.A.

Description

Tall shrub or tree to 5 m high. Branchlets flattened at tips, soon terete, sparsely appressed-puberulous apically but soon glabrous, sometimes ±white-resinous. Phyllodes erect, linear, 5–11.5 cm long, 2–3.5 mm wide, tapering to a long-acuminate gently curved apex, thinly coriaceous, sericeous becoming glabrous, 3-nerved per face; nerves distant and raised, sometimes with infrequent anastomoses. Inflorescences simple, sometimes in rudimentary racemes with axes to c. 1 mm long; peduncles 2–6 mm long, appressed-puberulous; heads obloid to subglobular, 5–6 mm long, 4 mm diam., 30–36-flowered, golden; bracteoles spathulate with rounded blade. Flowers 5-merous; sepals free; petals 1/2-united. Pods narrowly linear, slightly ridged longitudinally, straight, biconvex, to 8 cm long, 2–3 mm wide, sparsely appressed-puberulous. Seeds longitudinal, oblong, ±3.5 mm long, light brown; aril terminal.

Habitat

Grows mostly in red loam, sand and clay in drainage depressions, in shrubland and scrub.

Specimens

W.A.: c. 20 km due SSE of Bencubbin, B.R.Maslin 1992 (B, CANB, K, MEL, PERTH); 7.5 km towards Queen Victoria Rock from Great Eastern Hwy, B.R.Maslin 4824 (CANB, K, MEL, PERTH).

Notes

Related to A. symonii and perhaps also A. gibbosa; reminiscent of A. heteroclita and A. obtecta, both in sect. Plurinerves, which have globular (±globular in A. heteroclita) heads and mottled seeds (although indistinctly in A. obtecta).

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