Plants of South Eastern New South Wales
Acacia paradoxa
Kangaroo thorn, Hedge wattle, Prickly wattle
Fabaceae
Dry forest, woodland, and shrubland, often on stony hills. Coastal between the Batemans Bay district and Moruya. Tablelands, ACT, and the Western Slopes.
Shrub to 8 m tall. Fleshy seed stalks/arils. Sharp-pointed spiny stipules 4-15 mm long. Sharp-tipped 'leaves'. Bark finely fissured. Branchlets more or less cylindrical with low ridges, hairy or hairless. 'Leaves' alternating up the stems, often crowded, 0.5-3 cm long, 2-11 mm wide, hairless to hairy, midvein and marginal veins prominent, margins often more or less wavy, tips with a stiff sharp point or pointed with a mucro. Flower heads yellow, globular, 20-50 flowered (easiest seen in late buds), 5-12 mm in diameter, usually single, occasionally paired. Flowers Winter to Spring. Pods papery, densely hairy.
Was Acacia armata.
Family was Mimosaceae.
Thought to hybridise with Acacia verniciflua.
All native plants on unleased land in the ACT are protected.
World Wide Wattle photos, line drawings and description: http://www.worldwidewattle.com/imagegallery/image.php?p=0&l=p&id=3482&o=1
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