Plants of South Eastern New South Wales

Acacia melanoxylon

Flowering stem. Photographer Don Wood, near Sassafras, north east of Nerriga

Flowering stems. Australian Plant Image Index, photographer D Kelly, Canberra

Pods and seeds showing the red arils. Australian Plant Image Index, photographer Murray Fagg, Australian National Botanic Gardens, Canberra

Tree. Australian Plant Image Index, photographer Murray Fagg, Mongarlowe, east of Braidwood

Line drawings. b. branch with 'leaf' detail; flower cluster; seed..M Moir, M., National Herbarium of Victoria, © 2021 Royal Botanic Gardens Board

Common name

Blackwood, Hickory, Sally wattle, Lightwood, Tasmanian blackwood, Black wattle, Black sally

Family

Fabaceae

Where found

Forest, forest regrowth, roadsides, along streams, moist slopes, and gullies. Widespread.

Notes

Tree to 45 m tall, sometimes a shrub 1.5-3 m tall. Fleshy seed stalks. Bark rough, hard, fissured and somewhat scaly. Branchlets angled or flattened, hairy, becoming hairless. 'Leaves' alternating up the stems, 4-16 cm long, 6-30 mm wide, straight to almost strongly curved, surfaces hairless, 3–5 or more longitudinal veins prominent, tips pointed to blunt with a mucro, 1 marginal gland near the base. Flower heads white to yellow, globular, 30-56 flowered (easiest seen in late buds), 5-10 mm in diameter, in 2-8 flowered clusters. Flowers mostly July to Dec. Pods long and narrow, coiled when ripe. Seeds glossy, black, with a pink or orange to deep red seed stalk which encircles the seed.

Family was Mimosaceae.

Regarded as indigenous and naturalised in the ACT. All native plants on unleased land in the ACT are protected.

Possible hybrids between Acacia implexa and Acacia melanoxylon have been reported.

PlantNET description:  http://plantnet.rbgsyd.nsw.gov.au/cgi-bin/NSWfl.pl?page=nswfl&lvl=sp&name=Acacia~melanoxylon  (accessed 27 April 2021)

World Wide Wattle photos, line drawings and description:  http://www.worldwidewattle.com/imagegallery/image.php?p=0&l=m&id=10955&o=1