Acacia calantha Pedley, Austrobaileya 1: 261 (1980)
Moderately dense, glabrous, somewhat resinous, shrub 1–3 m high. Branchlets slender. Phyllodes erect or patent, filiform, shallowly incurved, drying quadrangular to triquetrous due to prominent, commonly excentric midrib, 7–15 cm long, c. 1 mm wide, green to grey-green, with slightly tuberculate margins; glands obscure, 1–2 mm above pulvinus, also at base of the mucro. Inflorescences simple, 1 per axil in upper axils; peduncles 3–6 mm long; heads showy, globular, c. 30-flowered, bright golden. Flowers 5-merous; sepals c. 3/4–5/6-united. Pods narrowly oblong, slightly raised over seeds, to 6 cm long, 5–6 mm wide, firmly chartaceous to very thinly coriaceous, finely reticulate, vernicose. Seeds longitudinal, oblong to elliptic, 3–4 mm long, dark brown to black; aril cream.
Restricted to the Dawson River basin near Cracow, Qld. Grows in shallow soil on lower slopes of steep sandstone hills, in eucalypt woodland and open forest.
Distinguished from other members of the ‘ A. johnsonii group’ by its long, filiform phyllodes. Herbarium specimens have sometimes been misidentified as A. juncifolia , a non-resinous species with free sepals, narrower pods (3–4 mm wide) and mottled, arillate seeds.
Type of accepted name
18 km S of Cracow, Qld, 17 Dec. 1976, L.Pedley 4412 ; holo: BRI; iso: A n.v. , CANB, K n.v. , L n.v. , MEL n.v. , NSW.
Synonymy
Racosperma calanthum (Pedley) Pedley, Austrobaileya 2: 346 (1987). Type: as for accepted name.
Representative collections
Qld: 30 km S of Cracow, M.E.Ballingall 2448 (CANB, G, K, MEL, NY, PERTH); on Nathan Gorge road, 19.6 km from Cracow, P.I.Forster 7151 (BRI, MEL, 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.
