Acacia maidenii F.Muell.

Fabaceae

Mueller, F.J.H. von (1892) Botanisches Centralblatt 51: 398. Type: Near the Karuak-River, W. Bäuerlen; Mooloolah-River, Eaves; Richmond-River, Mrs. Hodgkinson.

Maiden’s Wattle

Shrub or tree to 20 metres; bark grey to grey-brown, fissured on older trees; buds and young stem hairy; older stems hairless; lenticels yellowish; stipules 2, ovate, 0.6-0.8mm.

Reduced to simple phyllode in adult; alternate; lamina narrow elliptic to oblong-lanceolate, 80-200mm by 7-25mm, curved or straight, papery to thinly leathery, longitudinally veined with 1-5 prominent main veins; apex acute; gland, single, depressed, inconspicuous, 5-12mm from base on the upper edge; pulvinus 1-3mm long.

In loose, axillary cylindrical spikes 25-60mm long; peduncle 1-3mm. Flowers bisexual or male, actinomorphic, pale yellow to white; sepals 4, densely hairy; petals 4, glabrous; stamens numerous, longer than petals; carpel 1; ovary superior.

A dry pod, compressed linear, subterete, woody, finely hairy, twisted or curled; seeds 5-10 dark-brown, oblong to broadly elliptic.

Foliage bipinnate; petiole often vertically flattened.

Occurs in CEQ, from near Proserpine southwards to south eastern NSW. Altitudinal range in NEQ from 40-800 m. Occurs in coastal and subcoastal environments, often on the margins of rainforest in more fertile soils.

Racosperma maidenii F.Muell, Austrobaileya 2(4): 352 (1987).

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