Family

Fabaceae

Distribution

Occurs from near Hamelin SE to Narembeen and Boorabbin with eastern outliers at Albion Downs, Comet Vale and near Spargoville, W.A.

Description

Shrub 2–5 m high. Branchlets terete, glabrous, lenticellular, scarred by raised stem-projections where phyllodes have fallen. Phyllodes ascending to erect, straight to shallowly incurved, pentagonal in section, 7–23.5 cm long, 1–2.5 mm wide, coarsely pungent, rigid, glabrous, with 5 distant strongly raised nerves; gland 2–14 mm above base; pulvinus very reduced. Inflorescences single, simple or in rudimentary racemes with axes 0.5–2 mm long; peduncles (6–) 9–20 mm long, glabrous; heads globular, 6–8 mm diam., 60–85-flowered, golden; bracteoles peltate. Flowers 5-merous; sepals free. Pods pendent, linear, raised over and sometimes constricted between seeds, straight, to 7.5 cm long, 4–8 mm wide, chartaceous, glabrous. Seeds longitudinal, broadly ovate to nearly circular, 3–6 mm long, dull, mottled, exarillate.

Habitat

Grows mostly in sand in scrub and in clayey sand or clay loam in shrubland.

Specimens

W.A.: 0.4 km N of Booralaming Hall, B.R.Maslin 148 (PERTH); Ebano near Yandanooka, 24 Sept. 1904, A.Morrison s.n. (PERTH); Kununoppin, 30 Dec. 1916, F.E.Victor s.n. and 21 (PERTH); 43 km S of Coolgardie towards Norseman, 3 Oct. 1961, J.H.Willis (PERTH).

Notes

There are other species, such as A. gonophylla, with pentagonal phyllodes but none with other characteristics sufficiently similar to those of A. longispinea to suggest close relationship.

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

Minor edits by J.Reid