WATTLE

Acacias of Australia

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Acacia paradoxa DC.

Common Name

Kangaroo Thorn

Family

Fabaceae

Distribution

Occurs in SE Australia from Eyre Peninsula, S.A., throughout most of Vic., eastern N.S.W. to Crows Nest–Cooyar area, Qld. Introduced in Tas. and probably also south-western W.A. Possibly native in A.C.T.

Description

Shrub or tree 2–5 (–8) m tall; branches sometimes arching downwards. Branchlets ribbed, with variable indumentum, sometimes glabrous. Stipules spinose, spreading, 4–15 mm long. Phyllodes erect, oblique or dimidiate, lanceolate, sometimes narrowly oblong-elliptic, 8–20 mm long, normally 2–7 (–11) mm wide, acute or obtuse, sometimes rostellate, glabrous to sparsely hairy; midrib normally excentric; abaxial margin normally undulate. Inflorescences simple, normally 1 per axil; peduncles 5–15 (–20) mm long, normally glabrous; heads globular, to 12 mm diam. (fresh), densely (20–) 30–50-flowered, golden; bracteoles frequently acuminate. Flowers 5-merous; sepals united. Pods linear to narrowly oblong, to 6 cm long, 3–5 mm wide, thinly coriaceous, normally densely hairy. Seeds longitudinal, oblong, 3.5–5 mm long, shiny, dark brown, arillate.

Phenology

Acacia barteriana Hort. ex Jacques, J. Soc. Imp. Centr. Hort. 9: 278 (1863). T: cultivated plant in the Paris botanic garden, 1863; n.v. [? Orthographic variant of A. batheriana Hort. ex Jacques]

Habitat

Usually grows in woodland or open forest. Commonly planted or naturalised; proclaimed a noxious plant in parts of Vic.

Specimens

W.A.: near the old Govt Railway Dam, Mount Barker, K.F.Kenneally 71/280A (PERTH). S.A.: 6.4 km E of Wanilla on North Shields Rd, M.D.Tindale 559 (PERTH). Qld: Amiens, Dec. 1964, G.Ward s.n. (NSW). N.S.W.: 18 km SW of Bigga on Reids Flat Rd, B.R.Maslin 5895 (NSW, PERTH). A.C.T.: Mt Pleasant, Duntroon, R.D.Hoogland 6290 (NSW). Vic.: Hall’s Gap, Grampian Mtns, J.E.Tilden 864 (K, MO). Tas.: Furneaux Group, Lady Barron, J.S.Whinray 1806 (CANB).

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, J.Reid & J.Rogers

B.R.Maslin