Family

Fabaceae

Distribution

Disjunct in N.S.W., occurring in Cathedral Rock NP near Ebor and further south in the western Blue Mtns from Cullen Bullen to Capertee.

Description

Spreading, multi-stemmed shrub 0.3–2 m high, juvenile bipinnate leaves often persistent on mature plants. Branchlets red to reddish brown, glabrous or sometimes puberulous. Bipinnate leaves: rachis 1.5–3.5 cm long, jugary and inter-jugary glands absent; pinnae 2–4 pairs, 1.5–3.5 cm long; pinnules 6–12 pairs, oblong-elliptic, 2.5–6 mm long, 1.5–2 mm wide. Phyllodes oblanceolate, acute or rounded-uncinate with a distinctly excentric mucro (innocuous or ±coarsely pungent), ±straight, 2–7 cm long, 6–17 mm wide, often drying reddish, ±glabrous; midrib central or sometimes towards upper margin; gland (2–) 5–15 mm above pulvinus, not connected to midrib by a nerve. Inflorescences racemose; raceme axes mostly 1–2.5 cm long, sparsely ±spreading-hairy; peduncles 1–3 mm long; subglabrous or minutely ±spreading-hairy; heads globular, 7–10-flowered, bright yellow. Flowers 5 –merous; sepals united. Pods narrowly oblong to linear, ±flat, straight edged or slightly constricted between seeds, 1.5–8.5 cm long, 4–6 mm wide, firmly chartaceous to thinly coriaceous, shallowly to strongly curved, glabrous. Seeds longitudinal, elliptic, c. 4 mm long, dark brown; funicle extending to below the seeds and sometimes partially encircling them.

Phenology

Flowers Sept.–Oct.

Habitat

Usually grows in dry sclerophyll forest or woodland, on fertile sandy soils, in elevated rocky locations; often found on disturbed roadsides.

Specimens

N.S.W.: Ben Bullen, 20 miles [32 km] NNW of Lithgow, E.F.Constable 7189 (NSW, PERTH); 61 km ENE of Armidale on the Ebor rd, R.G.Coveny 5670 & N.Lander (BRI, CANB, K, MEL, MO, NE, NSW, NY, PERTH, UNSW); 67 km E of Armidale at turnoff to Point Lookout from Armidale–Ebor rd, 19 Sept. 1974, J.B.Williams s.n. (MO, NSW, PERTH).

Notes

A member of the ‘Acacia microbotrya group’ and treated by B.R.Maslin, Fl. Australia 11A: 262 (2001) as a dwarf variant under A. rubida. However, apart from its generally taller stature A. rubida is most readily distinguished by its usually larger phyllodes which are often falcate, acute to acuminate and have the gland further removed from the pulvinus, generally more flowers per head, ±straight, larger pods and funicles which encircle the seeds.

FOA Reference

Flora of Australia Project

Author

B.R.Maslin