Family

Fabaceae

Distribution

Occurs in southern near-coastal W.A. from the Fitzgerald R. to near Ponier Rock (c. 65 km SW of Balladonia). The type is reported to come from the Murchison R. but this is the only specimen from north of Perth and may well be an error, for Oldfield collected both north and south of Perth.

Description

Open normally single-stemmed shrub 0.2–0.5 m high. Branchlets glabrous. Stipules persistent, erect, shallowly incurved, 4–8 mm long, sometimes ±pungent, thick, often yellow. Phyllodes ascending, normally oblanceolate to linear-oblanceolate, 2–5.5 cm long, 4–15 (–23) mm wide, often slightly undulate, with coarsely pungent, frequently inflexed mucro, very thickly coriaceous, finely wrinkled when dry, glaucous or subglaucous, glabrous; midrib and margins prominent and normally yellowish; gland ±6 mm above pulvinus. Inflorescences rudimentary, 2-headed racemes with axes c. 1 mm long; peduncles mostly 5.5–15 mm long, glabrous but with a dense tuft of hairs around base, recurved in fruit; heads globular, 5–7 mm diam., 20–40-flowered, golden. Flowers 5-merous; sepals free. Pods narrowly oblong, not constricted between seeds, ±biconvex, to 6.5 cm long, 8–10 mm wide, hard and bony, glabrous. Seeds oblique, oblong to broadly elliptic, c. 5 mm long, dull, brown; aril terminal, pileiform.

Habitat

Grows in sand, sandy loam or sandy clay or rocky clay, sometimes near salt lakes or salt flats, in tall mallee and heath.

Specimens

W.A.: near junction of Fitzgerald R. and Twertup Ck, A.S.George 10030 (PERTH, TLF); 30 km W of Ponier Rock, K.Newbey 7321 (PERTH); 14.5 km W of Scaddan, B.R.Maslin 2520 (CANB, PERTH).

Notes

Allied to A. pachyphylla and A. glaucissima.

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