Common Name

Kalgoorlie Wattle

Family

Fabaceae

Distribution

Occurs in the Kalgoorlie and Marvel Loch (c. 200 km WSW of Kalgoorlie) areas with a variant scattered c. 320–560 km NW of Kalgoorlie (near Wubin and Noongal and Yuinmery Stns), W.A.

Description

Dense, rounded multistemmed shrub 1–3 m high. Branchlets subappressed-puberulous; hairs white with red resin-hairlets intermixed. Phyllodes erect, straight, terete, 3–7 cm long, ±1.5 mm diam., tapering into long hard dark straight sharply pungent tip, rigid, glabrous except pulvinus crispate-sericeous, with numerous slightly raised closely parallel nerves; stomata evident between the nerves; glands normally 2. Inflorescences simple, 2 per axil; peduncles usually 0.5–1.5 mm long, glabrous or with scattered red resin-hairlets; heads globular to widely ellipsoid, 3–6 mm diam., 15–22-flowered, golden. Flowers 5-merous; sepals free. Pods linear, raised over and constricted between seeds, shallowly curved, to 7.5 cm long, 3 mm wide, chartaceous, glabrous. Seeds longitudinal, narrowly elliptic to oblong-elliptic, 4–4.5 mm long, dull, dark brown; aril terminal.

Habitat

Grows in rocky loam, clay and clay loam on low hills in eucalypt woodland. The variant grows in sandy clay and loam over calcrete in eucalypt open woodland and Acacia tall shrubland.

Specimens

W.A.: near Kanowna, C.A.Gardner 783 (PERTH); 12.8 km SW of Kalgoorlie towards Coolgardie, B.R.Maslin 1897 (MEL, MO, PERTH); 28.5 km SSE of Marvel Loch on track towards Mt Day, B.R.Maslin 5514 (PERTH).

Notes

There are four collections from areas more than 300 km NW of the principal occurrence of A. kalgoorliensis in the general vicinity of Kalgoorlie; these closely resemble the species but have broadly ellipsoid, 30–40-flowered heads on peduncles 2–4 mm long; we have treated these as representing an informal variant of the species: Noongal Stn, P.Curry 1073 (CANB, PERTH); c. 40 km NE of Wubin, B.R.Maslin 5586 (MEL, MO, NSW, PERTH); and 7.5 km E of Yuinmery HS, J.Dell 95 and 124B (PERTH).

A member of the ‘A. densiflora group’, related to A. dissona and A. densiflora; the latter species differs in its partly united sepals and uniglandular phyllodes with the apex pungent but not long-spinose. Acacia inceana is superficially similar, differing in number of floral parts and phyllode venation. Also similar to A. donaldsonii and A. masliniana.

The peduncle is usually very short but those of Bale 109 (Mt Hunt, Boulder, PERTH) are 4–5 mm long.

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