Common Name

Fat-leaved Wattle

Family

Fabaceae

Distribution

Occurs on the southern Eyre Peninsula in the Cummins to Port Lincoln area with a disjunct occurrence near Finniss in southern Lofty region, S.A.

Description

Dense spreading shrub 1–2 m high. Branchlets red-brown, glabrous. Phyllodes terete or (especially when dry) ±flat and linear, straight to shallowly incurved, 1–4.5 cm long, 2–3 mm wide, narrowed at base, mucronulate, thick and fleshy, pale green, glabrous, with 10–15 fine distant nerves obscured by surface wrinkling when dry. Inflorescences simple or sometimes rudimentary 1–3-headed racemes with axes to c. 1 mm long; peduncles mostly 4–10 mm long, glabrous; basal bract persistent, c. 0.5 mm long; heads globular, 3–4 mm diam., 18–20-flowered, golden. Flowers 5-merous; sepals free, spathulate. Pods linear, irregularly constricted between and raised over seeds, curved becoming twisted, to 7 cm long, ±5 mm wide, glabrous. Seeds longitudinal, oblong-elliptic, c. 4.5 mm long, glossy, brown; funicle/aril folded, fleshy.

Habitat

Grows mainly in sandy or hard alkaline duplex soil, with Eucalyptus odorata and E. incrassata in open woodland or open scrub.

Specimens

S.A.: 15.1 km W of Cummins P.O. on road to Warrow, J.D.Briggs 1371 (AD n.v., CANB n.v., MEL n.v., PERTH); Finniss, c. 55 km SSE of Adelaide, 23 Aug. 1947, J.B.Cleland (AD, K, PERTH); 2 km N of Edillilie, B.Copley 3124 (PERTH).

Notes

Resembles A. mutabilis subsp. angustifolia which is distinguished especially by its 5-nerved, non-wrinkled phyllodes. The phyllodes are also generally similar to those of A. pachyphylla.

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, R.S.Cowan