Common Name

Ghost Wattle

Family

Fabaceae

Distribution

Restricted to the region between Bencubbin and Mukinbudin, south-western W.A.

Description

Shrub 2-3 m high, wispy. New shoots resinous. Branchlets pendulous, flexuose, minutely sericeous between ribs or glabrous. Phyllodes widely spreading, coarsely filiform, incurved, ±cruciate in section, 9-15 cm long, 1-2 mm diam., innocuous, glabrous, with 4 rib-like broad yellowish nerves separated by deep ±glaucous furrows. Inflorescences simple, 1 or 2 per axil; peduncles 4-11 mm long, glabrous, resinous; heads globular, 7-8 mm diam., subdensely 25-31-flowered, bright golden. Flowers 5-merous; sepals 5/6-united. Pods linear, slightly raised over and constricted between seeds, straight to slightly curved, ±terete, to 11.5 cm long, ±2 mm diam., firm-chartaceous, appressed-puberulous except broad margins glabrous. Seeds longitudinal, oblong to elliptic, 3-5 mm long, glossy, mottled light and dark tan; aril white.

Habitat

Grows in yellow sand in closed scrub.

Specimens

W.A.: near Mukinbudin, W.E.Blackall 848 (PERTH).

Notes

Two collections from near the type locality, e.g. B.R.Maslin 4462 (PERTH) and B.R.Maslin 6389 (PERTH, Z), are similar in many characteristics to this species but differ in having branchlets neither pendulous nor flexuose and phyllode furrows densely sericeous. They may represent an undescribed taxon or they may have a hybrid origin.

Related to A. anfractuosa. Similar in appearance to A. merinthophora (sect. Juliflorae) which has quite different venation in its quadrangular phyllodes, subsessile, obloid to short-cylindrical flower-heads and tetramerous flowers. Acacia tetraneura (sect. Juliflorae) has a similar phyllode venation to A. sciophanes.

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, B.R.Maslin