Acacia calantha Pedley
Acacia calantha Pedley
Fabaceae
Restricted to the Dawson River basin near Cracow, Qld.
Moderately dense shrub 1–3 m high, glabrous, somewhat resinous. Branchlets slender. Phyllodes erect or patent, filiform, shallowly incurved, drying quadrangular to ±triquetrous due to prominent and commonly excentric midrib, (3–) 7–15 cm long, c. 1 mm wide, green to grey-green, with slightly tuberculate margins; glands obscure, 1–2 mm above pulvinus, with another at base of mucro. Inflorescences simple, 1 per axil in upper axils; peduncles 3–6 (–8) mm long; heads showy, globular, c. 30-flowered, bright golden. Flowers 5-merous; sepals c. 3/4–5/6-united. Pods narrowly oblong, slightly raised over seeds, to 6 cm long, 5–6 mm wide, firmly chartaceous to very thinly coriaceous, finely reticulate, vernicose. Seeds longitudinal, oblong to elliptic, 3–4 mm long, dark brown to black; aril cream.
Grows in shallow soil on lower slopes of steep sandstone hills, in eucalypt woodland and open forest.
Qld: 30 km S of Cracow, M.E.Ballingall 2448 (CANB, G, K, MEL, NY, PERTH); on Nathan Gorge road, 19.6 km from Cracow, P.I.Forster 7151 (BRI, MEL, PERTH).
Distinguished from other members of the ‘A. johnsonii group’ by its long, filiform phyllodes. Herbarium specimens have sometimes been misidentified as A. juncifolia, a non-resinous species with free sepals, narrower pods (3–4 mm wide) and mottled, ±arillate seeds.
Data derived from Flora of Australia Volumes 11A (2001), 11B (2001) and 12 (1998), products of ABRS, ©Commonwealth of Australia
B.R.Maslin
Minor edits by J.Rogers
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