Family

Fabaceae

Distribution

Restricted to a small area along the North West Coastal Hwy N of the Murchison R. (E of Kalbarri), W.A.

Description

Glabrous shrub 1–2.5 m high. Phyllodes erect, oblanceolate to linear-oblanceolate, 4–10 cm long, 3–8 mm wide, narrowed at base, obtuse, mucronate, thickly coriaceous, subrigid, glaucous to subglaucous; midrib and marginal nerves yellow; lateral nerves obscure; glands obscure, normally 1–3 mm above pulvinus, and at base of mucro. Inflorescences (1-) 2–6-headed racemes; raceme axes 2–20 mm long; peduncles 1–2 cm long; heads globular, densely 35–50-flowered, ?pale yellow. Flowers 5-merous; sepals ±free or sometimes 2 or 3 partially united. Pods narrowly oblong, flat, rounded over seeds and shallowly constricted between them, to 15 cm long, 10–14 mm wide, firmly chartaceous to thinly coriaceous, normally yellow-brown. Seeds longitudinal, circular to broadly elliptic or broadly ovate, somewhat flattened, 7–8 mm long, slightly shiny, dark brown to blackish, pale-coloured at the shallowly depressed centre, exarillate.

Habitat

Grows in yellow sand in closed scrub.

Specimens

W.A.: type locality, A.M.Ashby 3874 (K, MEL, PERTH); 15 km N of Murchison R. on North West Coastal Hwy, H.Demarz 10490 (PERTH); 45 km N of Murchison R. on North West Coastal Hwy, B.R.Maslin 3346 (BRI, G, NY, PERTH).

Notes

Similar to the widespread, commonly arborescent, arid zone species, A. murrayana, which has thinly coriaceous phyllodes, often pruinose branchlets, normally shorter peduncles in longer racemes, and oblique to transverse, smaller seeds: see B.R.Maslin, Nuytsia 10: 194 (1995), for further details.

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