Family

Fabaceae

Distribution

Disjunct in northern Australia occurring near Jasper Gorge, N.T., and Mount House and Tableland Stns, Kimberley, W.A.

Description

Shrub 0.75–1 m tall, spreading, viscid. Branchlets terete, obscurely ribbed, verruculose, glabrous, resinous. Phyllodes fasciculate, 2–6 per node, patent to inclined, filiform, straight to very slightly curved, terete, (1.5–) 2–3 cm long, 0.5 mm diam., mucronulate, flexible, glabrous, very finely longitudinally wrinkled when dry, superficially nerveless. Inflorescences simple, 1 per axil; peduncles 20–25 (–30) mm long, glabrous, resinous; heads globular, 6 mm diam., ±38‑flowered, golden; bracteoles peltate, with ovate acute laminae. Flowers 5-merous; sepals 1/3–1/2-united; petals 1-nerved. Pods narrowly oblanceolate, flat, straight, to 5.5 cm long, 5–6 mm wide, woody, longitudinally obliquely nerved, glabrous, resinous-viscid, dehiscing elastically from apex; margins thickened. Seeds oblique, broadly oblong-elliptic, 4–5 mm long, glossy, brown; aril apical, conical.

Habitat

Co-dominant with Melaleuca sp. and Eucalyptus brevifolia in tall shrubland, and from a shale plateau.

Specimens

W A.: Mount House Stn, J.S.Beard 4199 (PERTH). N.T.: 20 km S of Jasper Gorge, J.Russell-Smith 7712 & D.Lucas (BRI, DNA).

Notes

Acacia manipularis differs from the two most closely related members of the ‘A. stigmatophylla group’, A. subternata and A. delicatula, by its obscurely ribbed branchlets and longer phyllodes. It is further distinguished from A. delicatula by its acute (not acuminate) bracteoles and from A. subternata by its 1-nerved (not striate) petals. See R.S.Cowan & B.R.Maslin, Nuytsia 10: 72–74 (1995) 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

Minor edits by B.R.Maslin

R.S.Cowan