Family

Fabaceae

Distribution

Known only from 3 islands off the central Qld coast, namely, Shaw Is. in the Lindeman Group, Palm Is. in the Palm Group and Whitsunday Is. in the Whitsunday Group. As noted by L.Pedley, Austrobaileya 2: 322 (1987), this is an unusual distribution pattern.

Description

Shrub or small tree, prostrate, glabrous. Branchlets slender, red-brown, resinous when young. Phyllodes linear-elliptic, shallowly recurved, 4–8.5 cm long, 3–5 mm wide, ±acute with callus tip, resinous when young, with 7–14 subdistant nerves per face; midnerve the most conspicuous; glands 1–3, not prominent, with lowermost 0–1 mm above pulvinus. Inflorescences simple, 1 or 2 per axil; peduncles 6–8 mm long, resinous; spikes 10–20 mm long, somewhat interrupted. Flowers 5-merous, resinous; sepals united to about the middle; calyx cupular. Pods (not seen, fide protologue) narrowly oblong-oblanceolate, narrowed at base, 4.5 cm long, woody, obscurely longitudinally nerved, resinous, opening elastically from apex; margins thick. Seed not seen.

Habitat

Habit and habitat data are scanty, but it has been recorded as a small tree occurring in heath on a hillside overlooking the beach, and as a prostrate shrub 30 cm tall growing in wind-shorn scrub at 42 m alt.

Specimens

Qld: Palm Is., [D.]Henne (MEL108106 n.v., NSW359860); Whitsunday Is., [D.]Henne (MEL108105 n.v.).

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