Plants of South Eastern New South Wales

Acacia terminalis

Flowering stems and leaves (subsp. Bright yellow flower Australian Plant Image Index, photographer Murray Fagg, east of Cooma

Flowering stems and leaf (subsp. hairless form). Photographer Don Wood, Pointer Gap Lookout north-west of Milton

Flowering branch (subsp. Long inflorescences) Ian McMaster, Clarence Valley

Pods and leaves. Australian Plant Image Index, photographer Murray Fagg, Australian National Botanic Gardens, Canberra, ACT

Tree. Australian Plant Image Index, photographer Murray Fagg, Australian National Botanic Gardens, Canberra, ACT

Common name

Sunshine wattle

Family

Fabaceae

Where found

(subsp. Bright yellow flower (Tindale NSW248078))  Wet or dry forest and woodland, or in open shrubland, usually between 500-1100m altitude. Coast, ranges and tablelands, north from Deua National Park. Mostly north from Kanangra-Boyd National Park.

(subsp. hairless form (M.Hancock 94) NSW Herbarium))  Wet or dry forest and woodland. Coast, ranges, and tablelands. The common subspecies.

(subsp. Long inflorescences (P.G.Kodela 307)) Dry forest and heath, sometimes in swampy areas and along streams. Sydeny district and north.

(subsp. terminalis)  Coastal woodland and shrubland. Near-coastal areas from Botany Bay north to the north shore of Sydney.

Notes

Shrub or small tree to 6 m tall. Fleshy seed stalks/arils. Bark smooth or finely fissured. Branchlets angled or cylindrical, sometimes with longitudinal ridges, hairless to densely hairy, sometimes glaucous. Leaves alternating up the stems, compound, usually with an elongated gland on the stalk near the basal pinnae or to ½ way below the basal pinnae. Rachis 0.07-9.5 cm long, hairless to densely hairy, often absent, often with a gland at the tip, interjugary glands absent.  2-16 pinnae 1.5-9 cm long, each with 10-42 leaflets each 0.22-1.8 cm long, 0.9-6 mm wide, hairless or fringed, upper surface dark green and shiny, lower surface paler and dull. Flower heads cream to golden, 4-13 mm in diameter, 5-14 flowered (easiest seen in late buds), globular, in many-flowered clusters.

Family was Mimosaceae. 

subsp. Bright yellow flower (Tindale NSW248078) NSW Herbarium:  Shrub to 3 m tall. Branchlets hairless and often glaucous. Leaf rachis 0.07-0.75 cm long, often absent, with 2-12 pinnae 1.8-9 cm long, each with 10-42 leaflets each 0.22-1.8 cm long, 0.9-6 mm wide. Flower heads cream to golden, occasionally pale yellow, 4-10 mm in diameter, 5-11 flowered (easiest seen in late buds). Flowers February to October.

Formerly Acacia terminalis subsp. aurea

World Wide Wattle photos, line drawings and description:  http://www.worldwidewattle.com/imagegallery/image.php?p=0&l=t&id=23923&o=1

subsp. hairless form (M.Hancock 94) NSW Herbarium:  Shrub or small tree to 6 m tall. Branchlets hairless or sparsely hairy. Leaf rachis 0.6-9.5 cm long, rarely absent, with 2-12 pinnae 1.8-9 cm long, each with 16-42 leaflets each 0.3-1.8 cm long, 1.1-5.2 mm wide. Flower heads pale yellow to almost white, 5-12 mm in diameter, 5-13 flowered (easiest seen in late buds). Flowers February to June and August to September.

Formerly Acacia terminalis subsp. angustifolia

World Wide Wattle photos, line drawings and description:  http://www.worldwidewattle.com/imagegallery/image.php?p=0&l=t&id=23922&o=1

subsp. Long inflorescences (P.G.Kodela 307):  Shrub to 3 m high. Branchlets angled and with longitudinal ridges, sparsely to moderately hairy. Leaf rachis 0.5-7.5 cm long, with 2-12 pinnae 2–6 cm long, each with 14-38 leaflets each 0.3-1.3 cm long, 1.3-5 mm wide. Flower heads cream to pale yellow, 10–13 mm in diameter, 5–9-flowered (easiest seen in late buds). Flowering: March to October.

Formerly Acacia terminalis subsp. longirachis

World Wide Wattle line drawings, photos, and description: http://worldwidewattle.com/imagegallery/image.php?p=0&l=t&id=23924&o=1

subsp. Eastern Sydney (G.P.Phillips 126) NSW Herbarium:  Spindly shrub to 5 m tall. Leaf rachis 1-6 cm long, with 2-16 pinnae 1.5-6 cm long, each with 10-28 leaflets each 0.3-1.15 cm long, 1.3-6 mm wide. Flower heads cream to pale yellow, 7-11 mm in diameter, 7-14 flowered (easiest seen in late buds). Flowers March to July.

Formerly Acacia terminalis subsp. terminalis.

Endangered Australia. Endangered NSW. Provisions of the NSW Biodiversity Conservation Act 2016 No 63 relating to the protection of protected plants generally also apply to plants that are a threatened species.

NSW Threatened Species profile:  http://www.environment.nsw.gov.au/threatenedspeciesapp/profile.aspx?id=10028 (accessed 3 January 2021)

PlantNET description of species and key to subspecies:  http://plantnet.rbgsyd.nsw.gov.au/cgi-bin/NSWfl.pl?page=nswfl&lvl=sp&name=Acacia~terminalis (accessed 3 January 2021)

World Wide Wattle photos, line drawings and description:  http://www.biodiversity.org.au/foa/taxa/1252/summary