Family

Fabaceae

Distribution

Occurs in the Great Sandy Desert–Lake Mackay region of central Australia, in W.A. and N.T.

Description

Spreading shrub to 3 m high. Bark ‘Minni Ritchi’, red-brown. Branchlets angular towards apices, finely ribbed, with spreading hairs. Phyllodes narrowly oblanceolate or sometimes linear, 2–7 cm long, 1.5–3 mm wide, pungent by a fine point, coriaceous, viscid, sparsely to moderately spreading-hairy on nerves and margins; 3-nerved with a prominent midrib and a minor nerves on either side, the upper margin broader than lower margin; gland inconspicuous. Spikes 10–35 mm long. Flowers 5-merous. Pods narrowly oblong to linear, straight to (shallowly) curved, ±flat, 3–11 cm long, 5–8 mm wide, viscid, with moderately dense, spreading hairs, finely reticulately nerved.

Phenology

Flowers July.

Habitat

Grows on the crests of aeolian sand dunes in red sands.

Specimens

W.A.: between Gary Junction and Sandy Blight Junction, J.S.Beard 4910 (PERTH); 53 miles [84.8 km] E of Jupiter Well, A.S.George 9061 (CNRS, MEL, PERTH, TLF). N.T.: SSE of L. Mackay, P.K.Latz 12836 (CANB, DNA, K, NSW, NT, PERTH); Lake Mackay on island on SE edge of lake, P.K.Latz 12853 (AD, BRI, DNA, K, NT, PERTH).

Notes

Further study is required to assess the taxonomic status of this entity that was noted by M.W.McDonald, Fl. Australia 11B: 212 (2001), as an undescribed variant of A. trachycarpa. It differs from the more westerly distributed A. trachycarpa mainly by its more pungent, often narrowly oblanceolate phyllodes, straight or generally less obviously curved pods and its sand dune habitat.

FOA Reference

Flora of Australia Project

Author

B.R.Maslin, M.W.McDonald