Family

Fabaceae

Distribution

Scattered from near Mullewa and Paynes Find SE to Tammin and Cardunia Rocks, E of Coolgardie and near Bromus, S of Norseman, W.A.

Description

Shrub or tree 0.7–3 m tall, resinous. Branchlets glabrous. Phyllodes ascending to erect, linear to linear-elliptic, straight to shallowly incurved, (1.5–) 2–7 (–9.5) cm long, 1–4 mm wide, coriaceous, glabrous, with numerous closely parallel nerves; midrib sometimes slightly more evident than the rest. Inflorescences simple, mostly 2 per axil; peduncles 2–5 mm long, to 8 mm in fruit, glabrous or puberulous; heads globular, 3.5–4 mm diam., 19–26-flowered, golden. Flowers 5-merous; sepals 3/4-united. Pods linear, slightly raised over seeds, slightly curved, to 6 cm long, 2–4 (–5) mm wide, firmly chartaceous. Seeds longitudinal, oblong-elliptic, 3–3.5 mm long, glossy, brown-black, mottled; aril apical.

Habitat

Grows in white, yellow, red or light brown sand, granitic loamy sand and gravelly sand on plains of low relief in scrub dominated by species of various eucalypts, Acacia or Allocasuarina acutivalvis.

Specimens

W.A.: 25 km N of Mullewa, T.J.Hawkeswood 37 (PERTH); 3.3 km SW along Queen Victoria Rocks Rd from Coolgardie, M.McDonald MM-1337 (NSW, PERTH); 7.5 km N of Tammin, B.R.Maslin 4422 (BRI, PERTH); Cardunia Rocks, K.Newbey 8483 (PERTH).

Notes

Closely allied to A. stowardii and A. kempeana which, with A. duriuscula, deserve careful study to resolve their interrelationships; A. duriuscula may, perhaps, be better treated as an infraspecific taxon within this group. Both relatives are widespread arid zone taxa with the flowers arranged in obloid heads or cylindrical spikes, not globular heads as in A. duriuscula. See B.R.Maslin & R.S.Cowan, Nuytsia 9: 390 (1994) for discussion of types.

FOA Reference

Data derived from Flora of Australia Volumes 11A (2001), 11B (2001) and 12 (1998), products of ABRS, ©Commonwealth of Australia

Author

Minor edits by B.R.Maslin & J.Rogers

R.S.Cowan, B.R.Maslin