Acacia latior (R.S.Cowan & Maslin) Maslin & Buscumb
WATTLE
Acacias of Australia
Common Name
Broad-leaf Sugar Brother
Family
Fabaceae
Distribution
Common in the Mullewa area, W.A., with scattered occurrences in Gnows Nest and Blue Hill ranges, and on White Wells, Karara and Warriedar stns.
Description
Rounded or obconic, normally multi-stemmed shrub 1–3 (–4) m high, stems ±sparingly fluted, crowns dense and compact. New shoots densely silvery white appressed hairy. Bark smooth or finely fissured. Branchlets ±angular or sub-flattened at extremities, obscurely ribbed, glabrous or appressed-puberulous at extremities. Phyllodes narrowly oblanceolate to linear-oblanceolate, linear-elliptic or linear, flat, straight to shallowly incurved, acute or obtuse and innocuous to coarsely pungent, (4–) 5–11 (–13) cm long, (2–) 5–8 (–10) mm wide, subrigid, green to grey-green with a distinctive silvery sheen most evident on young phyllodes, appressed-puberulous with hairs confined to between nerves with age; longitudinal nerves numerous, fine and close together. Inflorescences simple, mostly 2 per axil; peduncles 3–7 mm long, with dense, silvery white appressed hairs and occasionally red-brown glandular hairlets; heads widely ellipsoid to obloid or short cylindrical, 8–12 mm long, 5–7 mm diam., golden. Flowers 5-merous; calyx variable, divided to c. ½ its length or sometimes to the base. Pods straight to slightly curved, terete, 2–5 cm long, (1.5–) 2–3 mm wide, thinly to moderately coriaceous, appressed-puberulous, obscurely longitudinally nerved. Seeds longitudinal, oblong, 2–2.5 (–3) mm long, shiny, light or dark brown; aril white.
Habitat
Grows in sand, rocky clay or clay loam and sandy loam, on sandplains, or gravelly rises, in shrubland or scrub with mallee-type eucalypts and Acacia spp.
Specimens
W.A.: Whitewells Stn, 64 km E of Perenjori, J.S.Beard 7367 (PERTH: narrow phyllode form); between Cue and Mount Magnet, W.E.Blackall 81 (PERTH); East Yuna Reserve, A.C.Burns 1A (PERTH); 55.5 km E of Mullewa on the road to Yalgoo, B.R.Maslin 9416 (PERTH).
Notes
Until recently treated as a variety of A. coolgardiensis, now considered more appropriate as a distinct species; see B.R.Maslin & C.Buscumb, Nuytsia 18: 107–125 (2008) for discussion.
A member of the ‘A. coolgardiensis group’ and, around Mullewa, is parapatric and/or sympatric with other members of the group, namely, A. coolgardiensis, A. effusifolia and A. incognita; possibly hybrids between A. latior and A. effusifolia occur in this area, e.g. B.R.Maslin 4261 (PERTH). Most closely related to A. sulcaticaulis which differs in its clearly flattened branchlets, slightly broader, bright green phyllodes that are either glabrous or with sparse appressed hairs, less obviously hairy branchlets and peduncles, and ±glabrous pods that are <2 mm wide.
Acacia latior is very variable in its phyllode shape and size. A variant with narrower than normal phyllodes (2–4 mm wide) is common in the Blue Hill Ra., E of Mullewa. It resembles, and is sometimes sympatric with, A. effusifolia from which it is most readily distinguished by having conspicuously hairy new shoots; see B.R.Maslin & C.Buscumb, Nuytsia 18: 121 (2008) for discussion.
FOA Reference
Data derived from Flora of Australia Volumes 11A (2001), 11B (2001) and 12 (1998), products of ABRS, ©Commonwealth of Australia
Author
Revised by B.R.Maslin & J.Reid
R.S.Cowan
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