Family

Fabaceae

Distribution

Occurs on coastal dunes in S.A. on the Eyre Peninsula (near Drummond Point to Point Boston, also Venus Bay), southern Yorke Peninsula (Innestone to Sturt Bay) and Fleurieu Peninsula (Cape Jervis).

Description

Bushy shrub to c. 2.5 m high. Branchlets angled at extremities, glabrous. Phyllodes ascending to erect, terete to flat and narrowly linear, straight to shallowly curved, (1.4–) 2–4 cm long and 0.7–1.5 (–2) mm wide, obliquely mucronate to uncinate, grey-green, glabrous, normally finely wrinkled when dry, 4-nerved in all, 1-nerved per face with an impressed or slightly raised midrib when flat. Inflorescences simple, 1 per axil; peduncles 4–15 mm long, glabrous, ebracteate at base; heads globular, 28–41-flowered. Flowers 5-merous; sepals united. Pods linear, to 11 cm long, 5–6 mm wide, coriaceous-crustaceous to subwoody, longitudinally rugose, glabrous. Seeds longitudinal, oblong to elliptic, 4–5 mm long, dull to slightly shiny, dark brown to black; funicle 1/2–3/4 encircling seed, reddish brown; aril clavate.

Specimens

S.A.: Port Lincoln Nature Reserve, 4 Dec. 1965, D.Freckelton s.n. (CANB); Sturt Bay, c. 15 km S of Warooka, B.R.Maslin 4538 (PERTH); Cape Jervis, D.E.Mufet 1475 (AD, CANB); Point Drummond–Coffin Bay, N.Perry 822 (AD).

Notes

A member of the ‘A. microbotrya group’ which until recently was regarded as conspecific with A. calamifolia, fide B.R.Maslin & D.J.E.Whibley, Nuytsia 6: 30–31 (1987). The two species are allopatric, A. nematophylla occurring on coastal dunes and A. calamifolia inland.

Probable hybrids between A. nematophylla and the second variant under A. anceps (=Acacia sp. Winged (C.R.Alcock 4936)) are recorded from the southern Yorke and Eyre Peninsulas (see A. anceps × nematophylla).

The Murray scrub specimens referred to in the protologue of A. nematophylla and under A. bynoeana by G.Bentham, Fl. Austral. 2: 337 (1864), are A. wilhelmiana, fide A.B.Court, Muelleria 2: 160 (1972).

FOA Reference

Data derived from Flora of Australia Volumes 11A (2001), 11B (2001) and 12 (1998), products of ABRS, ©Commonwealth of Australia

Author

B.R.Maslin

Minor edits by B.R.Maslin & J.Rogers