Family

Fabaceae

Distribution

Restricted to a small area of the Cape York Peninsula near Weipa, Qld.

Description

Shrub or small tree with pendulous branches. Branchlets apically angular, soon terete, glabrous. Phyllodes narrowly oblong-oblanceolate, straight or more commonly shallowly or moderately incurved, (6–) 7–9 (–13) cm long, (7–) 9–15 mm wide, narrowed towards base, rounded-obtuse, thinly coriaceous, glabrous, with 3–5 main nerves and relatively few obscure longitudinally anastomosing minor nerves in between; glands not prominent, 2 or 3 along upper margin; lowermost gland 0–4 mm above pulvinus. Inflorescences simple or rudimentary racemes to c. 1 mm long, 1 or 2 per axil with one head of each pair maturing before the other; peduncles 4–9 (–12) mm long, glabrous; heads globular, 25–30-flowered. Flowers 5-merous; sepals 1/3-united. Pods linear to narrowly oblong, alternately raised over seeds and scarcely constricted between them, to 10 cm long, 7–10 mm wide, thinly coriaceous, glabrous. Seeds longitudinal, subcircular, ±3.5 mm long, dull, dark brown; pleurogram prominent; funicle thickened into a narrowly clavate aril.

Habitat

Grows in ironstone gravel.

Specimens

Qld: between York Downs Stn and Coen, V.Scarth-Johnson 873A (BRI).

Notes

Related to A. fleckeri which has wider phyllodes and seeds encircled by a fleshy funicle/aril. Also related, less closely, to A. legnota which is most readily distinguished by its larger, falcately recurved phyllodes with more main nerves and longer peduncles.

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, B.R.Maslin