Acacia adunca A.Cunn. ex G.Don
WATTLE
Acacias of Australia
Common Name
Wallangarra Wattle, Cascade Wattle
Family
Fabaceae
Distribution
Geographically restricted along the Great Divide from Bolivia Ra. N to Legume in north-eastern N.S.W., W to Amiens State Forest (36 km NW of Stanthorpe), in south-eastern Qld.
Description
Bushy shrub or tree to 6 m high. Branchlets slender, dark reddish, glabrous. Phyllodes narrowly linear, 7–14 cm long, 1–2.5 mm wide, uncinate to subuncinate, not rigid, commonly finely wrinkled when dry, glabrous; midrib subimpressed; lateral nerves obscure or absent; gland 1 or occasionally 2, not overly prominent, slightly exserted, the lowermost 1–4.5 cm above pulvinus. Inflorescences 4–13-headed racemes; raceme axes 15–40 mm long, glabrous; heads showy, globular, subdensely 9–14-flowered, bright golden; bracteoles ±peltate, with laminae subcircular and golden- or white-fimbriolate; peduncles 3–6 mm long, glabrous. Flowers 5‑merous; sepals united. Pods rounded on opposite sides over alternate seeds, to 13 (-18) cm long, 10–12 mm wide, thinly coriaceous, glabrous. Seeds longitudinal, oblong to elliptic, 5.5–6 mm long, somewhat shiny, blackish, arillate; funicle short.
Habitat
Grows in elevated country, in woodland or forest, in sand or sandy loam over granite.
Specimens
Qld: Amiens, M.Bengston S134 (BRI); Bald Rock Ck, N of Wallangarra, E.J.Carroll & I.R.Telford 707 (CANB). N.S.W.: Shiny Ra., Bolivia, E.F.Constable 7089 (NSW, PERTH).
Notes
Closely allied to A. betchei and A. linearifolia. Also resembling A. acrionastes, A. floydii and A. macnuttiana. Acacia adunca putatively hybridizes A. neriifolia in the Girraween NP, southeast Qld.
The complex nomenclatural history of the names A. adunca and A. linearifolia is discussed by B.R.Maslin, Telopea 6: 43–49 (1994). G.Bentham, Fl. Austral. 2: 372 (1864), erroneously treated A. adunca as conspecific with A. crassiuscula. The nomenclature of A. hamiltoniana is linked to that of A. adunca and is discussed by L.Pedley, Austrobaileya 1: 286 (1980) and B.R.Maslin, Telopea 6: 43–49 (1994).
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 B.R.Maslin & J.Rogers
B.R.Maslin
This identification key and fact sheets are available as a mobile application:
URL: https://apps.lucidcentral.org/wattle/
© Copyright 2018. All rights reserved.