Family

Fabaceae

Distribution

Occurs from Mt Holland and Lake King, E to near Balladonia and near Clyde Hill, W.A.; most common in the Peak Charles–Salmon Gums–Grass Patch area (N of Esperance).

Description

Dense spreading shrub 0.5–1.7 m high. Branchlets compressed at first, ribbed, commonly minutely appressed-puberulous often towards apices and in phyllode-axils. Stipules ±persistent, 1.5–3 mm long. Phyllodes on raised stem-projections, erect, narrowly oblong to linear, straight to shallowly incurved, often biconvex, 1.5–4 cm long, 2–3.5 (–4) mm wide, narrowed at base, obtuse, inconspicuously mucronulate, coriaceous, glabrous; midrib not prominent; lateral nerves ±absent; gland inconspicuous, 1–4 mm above base. Inflorescences normally rudimentary 2-headed racemes with axes to 0.5 mm long and which sometimes grow out at anthesis; peduncles (3–) 4–10 (–13) mm long, glabrous; heads globular, 4–4.5 mm diam., 15–22-flowered, golden. Flowers 5-merous; sepals free. Pods commonly circinnate to semi-circinnate, to 3 cm long, 4–4.5 mm wide, thinly coriaceous-crustaceous, glabrous. Seeds longitudinal, broadly elliptic, 2.5 mm long, glossy, grey-brown, becoming dark brown; aril subterminal, linear-clavate, 3/4 to as long as seed, creamy white.

Habitat

Grows on flat or gently undulating plains, in red-brown clay to sandy loam, in low eucalypt woodland or scrub mallee or low Casuarina scrub.

Specimens

W.A.: 30.5 km N of Mt Ney, M.A.Burgman 1281 & S.McNee (PERTH); 14 km S of Mt Holland, B.R.Maslin 3949 (PERTH); 24 km SSW of Mt Malcolm, Fraser Ra., K.Newbey 7637 (PERTH); 37 km W of Balladonia on the Eyre Hwy, M.H.Simmons 1163 (PERTH).

Notes

Most closely related to the more northerly A. saxatilis which has broader, pruinose phyllodes, more numerous flowers per head and the pod is curved rather than circinnate. Also allied to A. blaxellii.

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 J.Rogers

B.R.Maslin