Acacia melvillei Pedley
WATTLE
Acacias of Australia
Common Name
Yarran
Family
Fabaceae
Distribution
Occurs in south-eastern Qld from Clermont SE to Stanthorpe and across central N.S.W., extending into Vic. to Mildura and Kerang.
Description
Tree to c. 15 m high. Branchlets normally glabrous. Phyllodes ascending, narrowly elliptic or oblong-elliptic, ±straight, (3–) 5–9 (–12), (3–) 5–10 (–15) mm wide, acute, sometimes mucronate, coriaceous, glabrous or sparsely appressed-puberulous, with numerous closely parallel obscure nerves of which 1–3 sightly more prominent than the rest. Inflorescences 1–5-headed racemes, often 2 per axil; raceme axes 0.5–7 mm long, glabrous; peduncles 4–9 mm long, sparsely puberulous or glabrous; heads globular, 5–8 mm diam., 25–50-flowered, golden; bracteoles spathulate. Flowers 5-merous; sepals 1/2-united. Pods oblong, flat, slightly raised over and irregularly ±constricted between seeds, straight, to 9 cm long, 9–15 mm wide, thinly chartaceous, transversely reticulate, glabrous. Seeds transverse, broadly elliptic, 3.5–5.5 mm long, glossy, brown-black; aril small.
Habitat
Grows in loam, clay and sand, often in mixed open woodland and woodland.
Specimens
Qld: c. 10 km from Springsure towards Arcturus Downs, B.O’Keeffe 846 (BRI, PERTH); 12 km SW of Goombungee, J.H.Ross 3068 (PERTH). N.S.W.: 6.4 km N of Impini Pits, J. & T.Whaite 1928 (NSW, PERTH). Vic.: halfway between Kerang and Quambatook, 17 Sept. 1971, C.Williams (NSW).
Notes
Reported to hybridise with A. loderi in Vic., fide T.J.Entwistle et al., in N.G.Walsh & T.J.Entwistle (eds), Fl. Victoria 3: 605 (1996).
Very close to A. homalophylla and very difficult to distinguish in absence of pods. Possibly related also to A. maranoensis, which has generally longer phyllodes and narrower pods with longitudinally oblique seeds.
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, B.R.Maslin
Minor edits by B.R.Maslin
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