Common Name

Suzanne’s Golden-pod Wattle

Family

Fabaceae

Distribution

Occurs on Minnie Creek Stn and Williambury Stn, c. 200 km NE of Carnarvon, W.A.

Description

Obconic or rounded, multi-stemmed shrubs 1.5–2.5 m tall, crowns dense, stems and main branches ±contorted. Bark grey. Branchlets sericeous at extremities, glabrous with age. Phyllodes elliptic to obovate, (15–) 20–30 (–35) mm long, 10–20 mm wide, apices rounded and innocuous, coriaceous, sericeous with hairs densest on new shoots; longitudinal nerves numerous, fine, of uniform prominence or 1–3 slightly more pronounced, anastomoses absent or occasional; marginal nerve discrete, resinous, light brown to dark red-brown; gland basal. Inflorescences simple; peduncles (3–) 4–8 mm long, sparsely to ±densely hairy; spikes short-cylindrical. Flowers not seen. Pods broadly oblong, 30–70 mm long, 11–18 mm wide, crustaceous to ±sub-woody, straight to variously curved, densely villous, the hairs golden on young pods but aging white or tinged golden, margins thick. Seeds oblique, 8–9 mm long, flat, brown except dull yellow at centre, minutely rugose, arillate.

Phenology

Mature pods Oct.

Habitat

Of scattered occurrence (but locally abundant) on low granite hills in skeletal brown clayey loam where it favours water-gaining sites.

Notes

Very distinctive on account of its relatively small but broad, elliptic to obovate, obtuse, sericeous phyllodes with light brown to dark red-brown, resinous margins, and broad, densely villous pods that are golden-hairy when young. Related to A. xanthocarpa which as terete, longer phyllodes. Sterile specimens may superficially resemble some members of the Mulga group, e.g. A. craspedocarpa (which has reticulately veined phyllodes) and A. mulganeura (which thickly resin-ribbed branchlets).

Conservation

Acacia curryana is listed as Priority One under Department of Parks and Wildlife Conservation Codes for Western Australian Flora.

Author

B.R. Maslin