Family

Fabaceae

Distribution

Restricted distribution from near Eneabba S to Badgingarra, south-western W.A.

Description

Prostrate shrub normally 0.2–0.3 m high. Branchlets at first slightly angled, villous to pubescent with minute black resin-hairs intermixed, soon terete and glabrous except for resin-hairs. Phyllodes continuous on branchlets, ascending to erect, shallowly curved to shallowly sigmoid or sinuous, ±terete, 6.5–22.5 cm long, 1–1.5 mm diam., with curved-acute and innocuous apex, coriaceous to semirigid, glabrous, with 8 distant strongly raised nerves. Inflorescences simple, 1 (or 2) per axil; peduncles 4–10 mm long, to 14 mm long in fruit, villous and with minute resin-hairs intermixed; heads globular, 8 mm diam., 24–37-flowered, golden. Flowers 5-merous; sepals 1/2–3/4-united. Pods linear, not constricted between seeds, slightly curved, subterete, to 5.5 cm long, 3–3.5 mm wide, thinly crustaceous, dotted with minute black resin-hairs. Seeds longitudinal, oblong, 2–3 mm long, dull brown, tuberculate; tubercles irregular-shaped; aril apical, yellow.

Habitat

Grows in sand or sandy lateritic gravel in heath.

Specimens

W.A.: c. 12 km E of Eneabba, E.A.Griffin 8143 (PERTH); E of Eneabba, M.Simmons 510 (PERTH).

Notes

Relationships not clear but perhaps has some affinities with A. ridleyana; both species have free sepals and variably united petals, linear acuminate bracteoles and linear, terete or subterete pods. However, A. ridleyana has pulvinate, flat, much shorter phyllodes with clear articulation between pulvinus and branchlet. Phyllodes that are epulvinate and continuous on the branchlets are not common in section Plurinerves. Both A. campylophylla and A. chapmanii, in this section, have such phyllodes, but they are much shorter than those of A. wilsonii and furthermore, their petals and sepals are free and they have very different pods.

FOA Reference

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

Author

R.S.Cowan