Common Name

Giles’ Wattle

Family

Fabaceae

Distribution

Occurs in the Gibson Desert, W.A., and Great Victoria Desert from Neale Junction, W.A., to Maralinga, S.A., with the type locality c. 300 km further E.

Description

Shrub 2–3 m high, spreading, glabrous. Branchlets terete, at first slightly ribbed. Phyllodes ascending to erect, straight to shallowly curved, terete, 5–24 cm long, 1.5–1.8 mm diam., coarsely pungent to innocuous, thick, rigid, ±glaucous, with 8 (rarely more) distant immersed yellowish nerves; minute gland towards base; a second gland sometimes near apex. Inflorescences 2–8-headed racemes; raceme axes 25–30 mm long; peduncles 10–20 mm long; heads globular, 5–6 mm diam., 20–37-flowered, golden; bracteoles peltate. Flowers 5-merous; sepals free. Pods narrowly oblong, slightly constricted between seeds, slightly curved, flat, to 13 cm long, 1–1.5 cm wide, chartaceous, glabrous. Seeds longitudinal, broadly elliptic, ±6 mm long, exarillate.

Habitat

Grows mostly in deep red sand in low open woodland and tall shrubland, often with mulga and spinifex.

Specimens

W.A.: c. 72 km W of Serpentine Lakes, N.N.Donner 3952 (PERTH); c. 40 km W of Pollock Hills, A.S.George 9060 (PERTH, TLF). S.A.: c. 8 km S of Maralinga, B.Copley 2682 (PERTH); 148 km N of Cook, D.E.Symon 12251 (PERTH).

Notes

Related to A. donaldsonii.

FOA Reference

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

Author

R.S.Cowan