Acacia auriculiformis A.Cunn. ex Benth.

Fabaceae

Bentham, G. (1842) The London Journal of Botany 1: 377. Type: Goulburn and Sims Islands, N. Coast, Cunningham.

Wattle, Northern Black; Wattle, Ear Pod; Wattle, Black; Northern Black Wattle; Ear Pod Wattle; Black Wattle

Dead bark layered. Living bark strong and fibrous.

Leaves phyllodineous. Veins longitudinal, +/- parallel, anastomosing, about 3-5 veins somewhat thicker than the rest; marginal glands not obvious. Leaf blades about 10-16 x 1.5-2.5 cm. Petiole swollen, transversely wrinkled.

Spikes yellow, up to 8 cm long, somewhat interrupted, flowers sparsely distributed in pairs in the upper axils. Calyx glabrous, about 0.7-1 mm long, shortly lobed. Corolla about 1.7-2 mm long, about 2-2.5 times as long as the calyx. Stamens about 3 mm long. Ovary densely pubescent.

Pod flat, rather woody, glaucous, transversely veined, margin undulate, about 6.5 x 1.5 cm. Seeds shiny black, transversely oriented in the pod, about 5 x 3.5 mm. Funicle orange, encircling the seed.

Cotyledons oblong, elliptic or obovate, about 5-8 mm long. First leaf pinnate, second leaf bipinnate. By the third or fourth leaf stage: leaves bipinnate, petiole broadly flattened. At the tenth leaf stage: leaves phyllodineous, linear, glabrous, usually with two main veins running from the base to the apex; stipules very small, triangular, visible with a lens but falling early. Seed germination time 9 to 3664 days.

Occurs in WA (near the border with NT), NT, CYP and NEQ. Altitudinal range from near sea level to 500 m. Grows in rain forest but more frequently found in gallery forest or growing as a rheophyte along the creeks and rivers of Cape York Peninsula. Also occurs in New Guinea and Kai Island and perhaps other islands in eastern Malesia.