Common Name

Rupp’s Wattle

Family

Fabaceae

Distribution

Restricted to the Grafton-Coaldale area, N.S.W., at low elevations in hills on sandstone.

Description

Spreading open shrub 1–3 m high; bipinnate leaves sometimes retained on mature plants. Branchlets shortly ±villous. Phyllodes crowded, some subverticillate, on short stem-projections, ascending to erect, linear to linear-oblanceolate, straight to shallowly curved, flat, 8–22 mm long, 1–2 mm wide, obliquely mucronate, glabrous or with sparse spreading hairs, finely rugulose when dry; midrib very obscure or more commonly not evident; gland inconspicuous, 3–10 mm above pulvinus, sometimes absent. Inflorescences normally (2–) 3–9-headed; racemes (10–) 15–40 (–50) mm long, interspersed with some simple ones; peduncles 4–8 mm long, stout, shortly ±villous; heads globular, 7–9 mm diam, 30–35-flowered, bright yellow. Flowers 5-merous; sepals 2/3–5/6-united; petals appressed-hairy. Pods linear, shallowly curved, 4–11 cm long, 5–6 mm wide, coriaceous, dark brown to blackish, glabrous or sparsely hairy. Seeds longitudinal, oblong-elliptic, 4–5 mm long, shiny, black; aril clavate.

Phenology

Flowers July–Sept.

Specimens

N.S.W.: 6 miles [9.6 km] SSE of Coaldale, R.Coveny 4598 (A n.v., BRn.v., ISC n.v., K n.v., LE n.v., MEL, NSW, PERTH, UC n.v.). Rocky Ck, Grafton-Coaldale rd, T.Tame 1880 (NSW, PERTH).

Notes

Acacia gittinsii should perhaps also be treated as an infraspecific taxon of A. ruppii. Vegetatively, A. ruppii is similar to A. conferta which is readily distinguished by its pods 10–15 mm wide, seeds transverse, and peduncles never in racemes.

B.R.Maslin, Fl. Australia 11A: 344 (2001) treated A. torringtonensis as conspecific with A. ruppii but it is now regarded as a distinct species.

FOA Reference

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

Author

Revised by B.R.Maslin

B.R.Maslin