Acacia acutata W.Fitzg., J. Western Australia Nat. Hist. Soc . 2 (1): 6 (1904)
Intricate, often compact, glabrous shrub to 0.5 (- 1) m high. Branchlets spinose, rigid, striate-ribbed. Stipules caducous. Phyllodes subdistant, sessile, patent, inequilaterally triangular-lanceolate to semi-trullate, 4–12 mm long, 0.8–2 mm wide, pungent, rigid, green, 5-nerved, the 2-nerved, with somewhat thickened and nerve-like adaxial margin convex but slightly angled at the gland; midrib prominent. Inflorescences rudimentary 1-headed racemes with axes less than 0.5 mm long; peduncles 2.5–4 mm long; basal bracts persistent; heads globular, 11–15-flowered, golden; bracteoles caducous, scarious, rather conspicuous in buds. Flowers 5-merous; sepals united to near apex, 1/2–2/3 length of petals. Pods prominently rounded over seeds, to 22 mm long, 2.5–3 mm wide, undulate, firmly chartaceous. Seeds irregularly oblong to elliptic, c. 2.5 mm long, turgid, sparingly mottled, peripherally ridged; aril depressed, c. equalling seed length.
Occurs principally from near Wongan Hills S to Ongerup and E to near Lake King, south-western W.A.; one collection from near Broad Arrow. Grows in a variety of habitats but commonly in sand or clayey sand, often near granite outcrops, in woodland, Mallee communities, shrubland or heath.
Similar to long phyllode forms of A. intricata which has a very reduced calyx, non-undulate pods and inconspicuous bracteoles.
Type of accepted name
Cunderdin, W.A., Aug. 1903, W.V.Fitzgerald s.n. ; holo: NSW; iso: K; see B.R.Maslin & R.S.Cowan, Nuytsia 9: 389 (1994), for discussion of types.
Synonymy
[ Acacia costata auct. non Benth.: G.Bentham, Fl. Austral . 2: 327 (1864) p.p. , as to the J.Drummond specimens with flowers resembling ‘those of A. divergens’, viz. Swan R., J.Drummond (?4: or 5:) 6 , FI, G-DC, K, NSW, OXF].
Illustration
M.Simmons, Acacias Australia 2: 47 & pl. 1 (1988).
Representative collections
W.A.: N of Wongan Hills, C.A.Gardner 2723 (K, PERTH); near Broad Arrow, Sept. 1927, C.A.Gardner & W.E.Blackall s.n . (PERTH); 6.4 km N of Ongerup, K.Newbey 976 (PERTH).
(BRM)
The information presented here originally appeared on the WATTLE CD-ROM which was jointly published by the Australian Biological Resources Study, Canberra, and the Department of Parks and Wildlife, Perth; it was produced by CSIRO Publishing from where it is available for purchase. The WATTLE custodians are thanked for allowing us to post this information here.
