Common Name

Wongan Gully Wattle

Family

Fabaceae

Distribution

Restricted to the Wongan Hills, south-western W.A.

Description

Somewhat spindly shrub 3 (-4) m high. Branchlets pruinose towards extremities, glabrous, scarred by raised stem-projections where phyllodes have fallen. Phyllodes erect, straight to shallowly curved, terete, 1.5–4 (–5) cm long, c. 1 mm diam., ±pungent by a distinct mucro, ±rigid, glaucous to subglaucous, glabrous, smooth (finely longitudinally wrinkled when dry), 7‑nerved. Inflorescences 1- (or 2-) headed racemes; raceme axes c. 0.5 mm long; peduncles ±10 mm long, glabrous; basal bract caducous, prominent; heads obloid, 7–10 mm long, c. 25‑flowered, golden; bracteoles conspicuously overtopping flower buds. Flowers 5‑merous; sepals 1/4–1/2-united, irregularly lobed. Pods linear, strongly raised over seeds on alternating sides, to 7 cm long, ±4 mm wide, thinly coriaceous, moderately pruinose, glabrous. Seeds longitudinal, elliptic, 3–4 mm long, glossy, black; aril yellowish.

Habitat

Grows mostly in gullies in red-brown clay in mixed scrub.

Specimens

W.A.: type locality, R.Coveny 7847 & B.R.Maslin (CANB, K, MEL, NSW, PERTH, UC, US).

Notes

Relationships uncertain; superficially similar to A. tetanophylla which has non-racemose inflorescences, globular heads and much smaller bracteoles, see B.R.Maslin, Nuytsia 4: 34 (1982), for further discussion.

Conservation

Gazetted a rare species in W.A.

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 J.Reid

R.S.Cowan