Common Name

Wallowa, Reed-leaf Wattle and more, fide G.M.Cunningham et al., Pl. W New South Wales 355 (1981)

Family

Fabaceae

Distribution

Occurs in S.A. in the Flinders Ranges from Mt Hack S to nr the Tothill Ranges in the Northern Loftys, the Olary Ranges to Broken Hill, and central N.S.W. A specimen from Naryilco, far south-western Qld, is presumably from a cultivated plant (e.g. G.Gardiner s.n., AD96650304).

Description

Shrub 2–4 m high. Branchlets glabrous. New shoots glabrous. Phyllodes narrowly linear, terete to subterete, (2–) 2.5–9.5 (–10.5) cm long, 1–1.5 mm wide, shortly acuminate with delicate, curved point, green to grey-green, glabrous, sometimes scurfy, 4-nerved in all; nerves not prominent and often ±impressed. Inflorescences 2–8 (–14)-headed racemes; raceme axes 10–25 (–30) mm long, often growing out with some or all peduncles single within phyllode axils; peduncles (3–) 4–10 (–15) mm long, glabrous; heads globular to obloid, (28–) 30–44 (–46)-flowered, pale yellow to golden. Flowers 5-merous; sepals united. Pods moniliform to sub-moniliform, normally to c. 15 cm long, 3–6 mm wide, ±woody to crustaceous, wrinkled, glabrous. Seeds longitudinal, oblong-elliptic, 6–9 mm long, dull to slightly shiny, dark brown to black; funicle 1/2 encircling seed, dark reddish; aril clavate.

Habitat

Grows in a variety of soil types, mainly in woodland and open scrub.

Specimens

S.A.: Woolshed Flat, Pichi Richi Pass, R.Schodde 961 (AD, CANB, K, G, P); Morgan to Eudunda Rd., 2.8 km SW of Sutherlands, F.E.Davies 1391 (AD, CBG, MEL). N.S.W.: 36.8 km SSW of Rankin Springs towards Griffith, R.Coveny 2558 (PERTH).

Notes

The Macquarie R., [C.]Fraser specimen cited by G.Bentham, Fl. Austral. 2: 339 (1864) is A. subulata.

Acacia calamifolia is a member of the ‘A. microbotrya group’ and is closely related to A. nematophylla and A. subulata and A. euthycarpa (see those species for distinguishing features). G.J.Leach & T.Wiffen, Bot. J. Linn. Soc. 76: 53–69 (1978), showed A. × grayana to be a hybrid species, they considered the parents to be A. brachybotrya and A. calamifolia but the latter is now known to be A. euthycarpa. Acacia calamifolia occasionally hybridizes with A. spilleriana.

The concept of A. calamifolia by B.R.Maslin, Fl. Australia 11A: 268–269 (2001), now excludes A. euthycarpa which is treated as a distinct species, in accordance with the classification of B.R.Maslin & M.C.O’Leary, in B.R.Maslin (coordinator), WATTLE Acacias of Australia CD-ROM (2001).

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

Revised by B.R.Maslin & M.O'Leary