Family

Fabaceae

Distribution

Common from Perenjori SE to near Kambalda, and N to Leonora, inland south-western W.A.

Description

Shrub or tree to 7 m high, erect, with rather straight trunks. Branchlets terete, resin-ribbed when young, glabrous except occasionally minutely hairy in phyllode axils. Phyllodes ascending to erect, linear, straight, rhombic in section, occasionally flat, 8–18 cm long, 1–1.5 mm wide, to 3 mm wide when flat, with a gently recurved-acuminate apex, glabrous, with a resinous nerve at apex of each of the 4 angles and with numerous finer nerves on the intervening faces; central nerve evident when phyllodes flat. Inflorescences simple; peduncles 2.5–6 mm long, glabrous, often granular resinous; heads obloid to short-cylindrical, 6–15 mm long, golden. Flowers 5-merous; sepals 3/4-united. Pods linear, ±raised over and constricted between seeds, straight, to 6 cm long, 2 mm wide, chartaceous, glabrous. Seeds longitudinal, elliptic-oblong, 2.5–3.5 mm long, semi-glossy, mottled dark and lighter brown; aril apical, crested.

Habitat

Grows in sand, rarely in loam, in scrub and shrubland, often in pure stands.

Specimens

W.A.: 8 km NE of Mt Gibson turn-off on Wubin–Paynes Find road, R.Coveny 7904 & B.R.Maslin (BRI, CANB, K, MEL, NSW, PERTH, US); 58 km N of Wubin towards Perenjori, B.R.Maslin 3181 (PERTH); 17 km SSE of Londonderry, K.Newbey 6113 (PERTH); Leonora, B.Severne 76 (PERTH).

Notes

Related to A. jamesiana which has ±rigid phyllodes with straight apices, larger pods and non-mottled seeds.

FOA Reference

Data derived from Flora of Australia Volumes 11A (2001), 11B (2001) and 12 (1998), products of ABRS, ©Commonwealth of Australia

Author

R.S.Cowan, B.R.Maslin