Acacia flavescens A.Cunn. ex Benth.

Fabaceae

Bentham, G. (1842) The London Journal of Botany 1: 381. Type: N.E. Coast, Cunningham [Given by L.Pedley, Austrobaileya 1 (1978) 217 as Percy Islands, June 318/1819, Cunningham (K, holo).].

Red Wattle; Wattle, Red; Yellow Wattle

Dead bark layered.

Leaf blades green, phyllodineous. Veins longitudinal, transversely reticulate, three running +/- parallel with the blade margin appear more prominent than the rest. Leaf blades about 9-24 x 2-4 cm, margins thickened and vein like. Between one and five small projecting glands along the more curved margin of the leaf blade and a similar structure at the junction of the leaf blade and the petiole. Stellate hairs visible with a lens on the young shoots and leaves.

Inflorescence consists of panicles of heads of flowers, head peduncles about 10-15 mm long and clothed in dense yellowish hairs, heads about (30-)40-50 flowered. Calyx about 1.1-1.3(-1.6)mm long, lobes about 0.3-0.5 mm long, usually pubescent. Corolla about 1.7-1.9(-2.1) mm long, lobes pubescent, about 0.6-0.8 mm long, corolla about 1.5 times as long as the calyx. Stamens about 4-5 mm long. Ovary densely pubescent.

Pod flat, transversely veined, about 6-12 x 1.5-2 cm. Seeds brown to black, transversely oriented in the pod, about 6 x 4 mm. Funicle cream to pale green, but brown when dry, ribbon-like, folded and finally expanded into a cupular aril-like structure.

Cotyledons oblong, elliptic-obovate, about 7-9 mm long. First leaf pinnate, second leaf bipinnate. By the third or fourth leaf stage: leaves bipinnate, petiole expanded and flattened. At the tenth leaf stage: leaves simple, phyllodineous, ovate, unequal-sided, longest side of the leaf blade with about 3-6 glandular teeth along the margin, upper and lower surfaces with sparse pale stellate hairs, more frequent towards the base; petiole and stem stellate hairy, terminal bud densely clothed in pale stellate hairs; stipules triangular. Seed germination time 9 to 17 days.

Possibly endemic to Queensland, occurs in CYP, NEQ, CEQ and southwards as far as south-eastern Queensland. Altitudinal range from sea level to 1000 m. Usually grows in open forest but also found on the margins of monsoon forest and rain forest.

Food plant for the larval stages of the Blue Jewel Butterfly. Common & Waterhouse (1981).

Acacia flavescens var. typica Domin, Bibliotheca Botanica 89(4): 818(1928). Racosperma flavescens (Benth.) Pedley, Austrobaileya 2(4): 348(1987). Acacia flavescens Benth. var. flavescens, Bibliotheca Botanica 89(4): 818(1928). Acacia flavescens var. nobilis Domin, Bibliotheca Botanica 89(4): 818(1928), Type: Queensland: Savannenwulder am Cape Grafton, (DOMIN I. 1910). [given by L.Pedley, Austrobaileya 1 (1978) 217.