Acacia blakei Pedley, Contr. Queensland Herb . 15: 6 (1974)
Erect tree to 15 m high. Bark fissured, grey. Branchlets angular toward apices, otherwise terete, light green to brown, reddish in juveniles, sometimes pruinose or scurfy. Mature phyllodes narrowly elliptic to very narrowly elliptic, flat, falcate, 5–17 cm long, 4–22 mm wide, thinly coriaceous, mostly glabrous (when present immature phyllodes elliptic and 5–9.5 cm long, 15–35 mm wide), with 2 or 3 conspicuous longitudinal nerves and 2 or 3 semiprominent nerves separate to base, the minor nerves 4–12 per mm and nonanastomosing; gland 1, basal, to 3 mm above pulvinus. Spikes 2–6 cm long. Flowers 4- or 5-merous; calyx 0.5–0.8 mm long, barely to shortly dissected into broad lobes, with silvery villous hairs, or 0.3–0.5 mm with red-brown papillae on lobes and sometimes pubescent on tube; corolla 1.3–1.8 mm long, dissected to 1/3–1/2, glabrous; ovary pubescent at apex and base, or glabrous to variably tomentose. Pods linear, scarcely moniliform, straight or slightly curved, 3–10 cm long, glabrous or scurfy. Seeds longitudinal, broadly elliptic, 3.2–5.2 mm long, black; areole not depressed, open.
Occurs in central-south and south-eastern Qld, extending S from Emerald and Blackdown Tableland into north-eastern N.S.W. as far S as Coxs R. and L. Yarrunga (W and S of Sydney).
Allied to A. binervia, A. bulgaensis, A. burrowii, A. cheelii, A. georgensis, A. julifera, A. matthewii, A. meiosperma, A. sparsiflora, A. striatifolia, A. tenuinervis, A. williamsiana, and other species with spikes arranged in racemes, phyllodes with numerous, closely spaced, non-anastomosing longitudinal nerves, and linear pods slightly constricted between seeds .
Two subspecies are recognised.
Calyx 0.3–0.5 mm long, tube glabrous or pubescent, lobes with red-brown papillae. Ovary glabrous or tomentose. Immature phyllodes narrowly to very narrowly elliptic, to 22 mm wide
subsp. blakei
Calyx 0.5–0.8 mm long, tube densely clothed with matted, villous, white hairs. Ovary with long white hairs at apex and base. Immature phyllodes elliptic, to 35 mm wide
subsp. diphylla
Acacia blakei Pedley subsp. blakei
Phyllodes consistently narrowly to very narrowly elliptic. Spikes to 6 cm long. Bracteoles with a sparse to dense cover of red-brown papillae on the lamina. Flowers: sepal apices with distinctive red-brown papillae; calyx tube variably covered in white-hyaline hairs, being sparse to sometimes more dense and similar to the calyces of subsp. diphylla ; ovary glabrous to tomentose.
Distribution extends southwards to Tia Falls in N.S.W. and N to the Drummond Ra. in central Qld. Grows often on hillsides of sandy soils with gravel or rocks, in dry sclerophyll forest. Flowers Aug.–Oct.
Type of accepted name
7 miles [11.2 km] S of Warwick, Qld, Oct. 1958, L.Pedley 323; holo: BRI; iso: A, CANB, K.
Synonymy
Racosperma blakei (Pedley) Pedley, Austrobaileya 2: 345 (1987); R. blakei (Pedley) Pedley subsp. blakei , loc. cit . Type: as for accepted name.
[ Acacia cheelii auct. non Blakely: C.T.White, Proc. Roy. Soc. Queensland 50: 71 (1939), fide L.Pedley, Austrobaileya 1: 146 (1978)]
Illustrations
B.A.Lebler, Wildfl. SE Queensland 2: 21 (1981); T.Tame, Acacias SE Australia 45, fig. 22; pl. 22 (1992).
Representative collections
Qld: 16 miles [25.6 km] WSW of Mundubbera, L.Pedley 2893 (BRI, NSW); c. 40 miles [64 km] NNE of Tambo, Dividing Ra., L.Pedley 2808 (BRI, NSW). N.S.W.: 1.8 km NE of Sandy Hill, Bruxner Hwy, R.G.Coveny 5732 & N.Lander (A, AD, B, BRI, CANB, G, MEL, NSW, TL, UC, US, Z); Tia Falls, W.Forsyth (NSW).
Acacia blakei subsp. diphylla (Tindale) Pedley, Austrobaileya 3: 215 (1990)
Phyllodes elliptic when immature (not occurring in subsp. blakei ), and narrowly to very narrowly elliptic when mature. Spikes rarely longer than 4 cm. Bracteoles without red-brown papillae on the lamina or if present only sparsely so. Flowers: calyx (mainly tube) ±densely covered in white-hyaline hairs, the apices rarely with sparse red-brown papillae; ovary distinctively pubescent at apex and base, usually being glabrous in middle.
Occurs in N.S.W. near Wollomombi Falls and Hillgrove on the Northern Tablelands, NNW of Gloucester on the North Coast, and extending southwards to the Coxs R. and L. Yarrunga; also in south-eastern Qld S of Ipswich area. Grows usually in shale- or slate-derived soils, common in woodland fringing gorges and on hillsides, often growing in association with Eucalyptus tereticornis and E. melliodora . Flowers Aug.–Nov.
Type of accepted name
Baker’s Ck Falls, c. 3 miles (4.8 km) NW of Hillgrove (off Armidale–Grafton road), N.S.W., 6 Oct. 1969, R.G.Coveny 2288 ; holo: NSW; iso: A, AD, B, BRI, CANB, CHR, K, L, MEL, NE, PERTH, U, UC, Z.
Synonymy
Acacia diphylla Tindale, Telopea 1: 79 (1975); Racosperma blakei subsp. diphyllum (Tindale) Pedley, Austrobaileya 2: 345 (1987). Type: as for accepted name.
Illustrations
T.Tame, Acacias SE Australia 46, fig. 23; pl. 23 (1992), as A. diphylla .
Representative collections
Qld: Mt Maroon, SW of Rathdowney, A.R.Bean 6669 (BRI n.v ., CANB n.v ., NSW); Amiens, Sow and Pigs, L.Pedley 4952 (BRI n.v ., CANB n.v ., DNA n.v ., K n.v ., MEL n.v ., MO n.v ., NSW, PERTH n.v ., PR n.v .). N.S.W.: Bakers Ck Falls, R.G.Coveny 3927 & K.Thurtell (A, AD, BRI, CANB, K, L, LE, MEL, NSW, PERTH, RSA, U, UC, USA); 22.3 km NNW of Gloucester on Giro Rd, K.Thurtell & R.G.Coveny 3810 (AD, BRI, CANB, CHR, K, L, MEL, NSW, PERTH, US); edge of Hillgrove Gorge, c. 17 miles [27.2 km] SE of Armidale, Oct. 1964, J.B.Williams (NSW).
(NSW)
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.
