Plants of South Eastern New South Wales
Acacia rubida
Common name
Red-leaf wattle, Red-stemmed wattle
Family
Fabaceae
Where found
Dry forest and woodland, often among rocks or along streams or in gullies. Invasive on roadsides. Widespread.
Notes
Tree or shrub to 10 m tall. Seeds with a red brown fleshy seed stalk encircling the seed. Bark finely fissured. Branchlets angled or cylindrical, hairless, reddish. 'Leaves' alternating up the stems, 4.5-20 cm long, 5-25 mm wide, straight or almost strongly curved, surfaces somewhat glaucous, often reddish, hairless, midvein somewhat towards the upper margin, prominent lateral veins sometimes distinct, margins prominent, tips pointed to blunt with a mucro. 1 marginal gland 5-40 mm above the base, rarely a second gland along the margin. A few juvenile compound leaves often present on mature plants. Rachis 4-7 cm long, with 6-8 pinnae each 4-7 cm long with 14-28 leaflets 0.8-1.4 cm long, 2-4 mm wide. Flower heads yellow, globular, 9-20 flowered (easiest seen in late buds), 5-7 mm in diameter, in elongated clusters of 5-29 flower heads. Flowers Winter to Spring, sometimes in Summer.
Family was Mimosaceae.
Regarded as indigenous and naturalised in the ACT. All native plants on unleased land in the ACT are protected.
Hybridises with Acacia falciformis.
PlantNET description: http://plantnet.rbgsyd.nsw.gov.au/cgi-bin/NSWfl.pl?page=nswfl&lvl=sp&name=Acacia~rubida (accessed 28 April 2021)
World Wide Wattle photos, line drawings and description: http://www.worldwidewattle.com/imagegallery/image.php?p=0&l=r&id=23813&o=1
This identification key and fact sheets are available as a free mobile application:
