Common Name

Pink Gidgee

Family

Fabaceae

Distribution

An uncommon species occurring in small isolated populations from near Muttaburra, N of Longreach to Elmore Stn N of Richmond, in central Qld.

Description

Tree to c. 10 m high; habit reported to resemble A. cana and A. cambagei. Branchlets flexuose, angled at extremities, slightly pruinose, glabrous. Stipules absent. Phyllodes ±narrowly linear, straight to shallowly recurved, 7–15 (–23) cm long, 3–8 mm wide, narrowed at both ends, coriaceous, pale green, glabrous or subglabrous; midrib and marginal nerves prominent, with anastomosing lateral nerves arched near margin; gland oblong to ±linear,
1–2 mm long, 0–4 mm above pulvinus. Inflorescences 1–4-headed racemes; raceme axes 2–10 mm long, glabrous; peduncles 1–2 cm long, glabrous; heads globular. Flowers 5‑merous; sepals free, linear-spathulate. Pods narrowly oblong, umbonate along midline, to 10 cm long, 16–32 mm wide, firmly chartaceous to thinly coriaceous, transversely reticulate, glabrous. Seeds transverse, ±oblong to widely elliptic, flat, 8–10 mm long, 7–8.5 mm wide, slightly shiny, dark brown, exarillate.

Specimens

Qld: Burleigh Stn, 1991, K.Jackson (PERTH); ‘Ronald Plains’, 64 km N of Richmond, 9 May 1965, L.G.Walker (BRI).

Notes

Flavonoid studies by M.D.Tindale & D.G.Roux, Phytochemistry 13: 829–839 (1974), show A. crombiei as biochemically related to A. carneorum and A. peuce. Heartwood of these three species contain peltogynoids which were previously thought restricted to subfamily Caesalpinioideae. The physical properties of the wood of A. peuce are very similar to that of A. crombiei, except it is much denser. Acacia crombiei is readily distinguished from both A. carneorum and A. peuce by its flat, non-pungent phyllodes. It resembles some forms of A. fasciculifera which is distinguished by its generally broader phyllodes with smaller glands and narrower pods with ±longitudinal seeds.

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 J.Rogers