Family

Fabaceae

Distribution

Occurs on the continental islands off the Qld coast and the immediate mainland between Townsville and Mackay, extending further S on the islands to Rat Is. near Rockhampton, and inland in the Hillborough Natl Park, SW of Townsville. It occurs on margins of rainforest and on drier sites in eucalypt woodland and open forest. Also recorded from the S coast of New Guinea, fide L.Pedley, Contr. Queensland Herb. 18: 20 (1975). The typical subspecies (which includes A. solandri subsp. kajewskii Pedley) occurs on islands of the Pacific, e.g. New Hebrides, New Caledonia and Loyality Is., fide L.Pedley, Contr. Queensland Herb. 18: 20–21 (1975).

Description

Tree to c. 12 m high; young plants possibly pubescent. Branchlets slender, glabrous. Phyllodes falcately recurved, 9–17 cm long, 6–16 mm wide, dark green, glabrous, with 2 main longitudinal nerves more prominent than the rest and sometimes concurrent with each other near base; minor nerves numerous, 3–5 (–6) per mm, subdistant, 0.1–0.3 mm apart, sparingly anastomosing; pulvinus 2–4 mm long, dark-coloured. Inflorescences simple or rudimentary racemes with axes c. 0.5 mm long; peduncles 2 per axil, 5–10 mm long, glabrous; spikes 3–8 cm long, interrupted, creamy. Flowers 5-merous; sepals united with broadly triangular lobes at apices, glabrous; petals strongly reflexed at anthesis; ovary densely hairy. Pods flat, spirally coiled, (2.5–) 3.5–5 mm wide, glabrous, commonly faintly pruinose. Seeds longitudinal or slightly oblique, ±oblong, 3.5–5 mm long, shiny, dark brown; funicle-aril bright yellow, folded many times below seed.

Specimens

Qld: Arlie on the Proserpine–Shute Harbour rd, R.Coveny 6922 & P.Hind (PERTH, also AD, B, CANB, K, L, NSW, NU, P, RSA, TL, UC, US but n.v.); 5 km from Flinders Hwy on rd to Mt Stuart near Townsville, R.Cumming 2944 (PERTH); Hillsborough Natl Park, K.R.McDonald 24 (BRI n.v.); Rat Is., W.McKenzie BRI196528 (BRI n.v.).

Notes

Acacia spirorbis putatively hybridizes with A. nesophila and A. auriculiformis near Townsville.

In the absence of pods it could be confused with A. julifera or A. sparsiflora.

The Leichhardt specimen cited by G.Bentham, Fl. Austral. 2: 406 (1864), under A. solandri is A. shirleyi, fide L.Pedley, Austrobaileya 1: 156 (1978).

FOA Reference

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

Author

B.R.Maslin, R.S.Cowan

Minor edits by B.R.Maslin & J.Rogers