Common Name

Ausfeld’s Wattle, Whipstick Cinnamon Wattle

Family

Fabaceae

Distribution

Disjunct in south-eastern Australia, occurring in the Dubbo–Cassilis–Mudgee area, N.S.W., and the Inglewood–Nagambie area N to Torrumbarry, Vic.

Description

Somewhat viscid shrub or tree 2–4 m high. Branchlets prominently resin-ribbed, glabrous. Phyllodes commonly patent, linear-oblong to narrowly elliptic, straight to shallowly incurved, 2–7 cm long, 2–6 (–7) mm wide, narrowed at base, obtuse to subacute, with mucro normally excentric, rather obviously resinous-punctate, glabrous, 1-nerved per face; lateral nerves obscure or absent; gland 0–3 mm above pulvinus. Inflorescences usually simple and 2 per axil; peduncles often patent, 4–9 mm long, somewhat stout, usually pubescent-tomentose and bracteate at base; heads globular to slightly obloid, 25–45-flowered, golden. Flowers 5-merous; sepals united. Pods linear, raised over seeds, 3–10 cm long, 2.5–4 (–5) mm wide, firmly chartaceous, glabrous. Seeds longitudinal, oblong, 3–4 mm long, shiny, dark brown; aril terminal.

Habitat

In N.S.W. it grows in alluvial gullies, on flats or low hills, while in Vic. it grows in dry forest and mallee communities.

Specimens

N.S.W.: 22 km from Mudgee towards Cassilis, I.B.Armitage 990 (PERTH). Vic.: Bendigo Whipstick, c. 10 km due NNW of Bendigo township, B.R.Maslin 5845 (MEL, PERTH); near Costerfield on the Nagambie–Heathcote road, I.B.Muir 2160 (MEL).

Notes

A member of the A. verniciflua complex and especially similar to some forms of A. leprosa. Acacia ausfeldii is recognised by its glabrous, resin-ribbed branchlets, normally tomentose-pubescent peduncles (hairs dense, normally spreading, subcrisped and somewhat matted), generally more floriferous heads and slightly narrower pods.

In general, the N.S.W. plants differ from those in Vic. in having slightly broader phyllodes with a few, obscure, impressed lateral nerves (laterals normally absent in Vic.).

Putative hybrids between A. ausfeldii and A. paradoxa (syn. A. armata) in the Bendigo–Heathcote district, Vic., are noted by A.B.Court, in J.H.Willis, Handb. Pl. Victoria 2: 216 (1973).

FOA Reference

Data derived from Flora of Australia Volumes 11A (2001), 11B (2001) and 12 (1998), products of ABRS, ©Commonwealth of Australia

Author

B.R.Maslin

Minor edits by B.R.Maslin