Acacia carneorum Maiden (as ‘carnei’), J. & Proc. Roy. Soc. New South Wales 49: 470 (1916)
Needle Wattle , Dead Finish , Purple-wood Wattle
Straggly, spreading, gregarious shrub or tree to 5 m high; habit similar to some Hakea spp. (e.g. H . leucoptera ). Branchlet apices densely tomentulose-puberulous. Phyllodes sessile, patent to inclined, quadrangular in section with a yellow or light brown nerve at apex of each angle, 3–7.5 cm long, 1–2 mm wide, pungent, thick, rigid, appressed puberulous, the indumentum sparse or absent with age. Inflorescences simple, normally 1 per axil; peduncles 8–30 mm long, appressed-puberulous; heads globular, 35–60-flowered, bright golden. Flowers 5-merous; sepals united. Pods rarely produced, narrowly oblong, 2–5 cm long, 8–12 mm wide, thickly coriaceous to woody, dehiscing from apex. Seeds longitudinal, elliptic, c. 6 mm long, aril large and yellowish.
Scattered from SW of Lake Frome and near Peterborough, S.A., to near Tibooburra and Menindee Lakes, N.S.W. Grows on sand ridges or sandy flats in mulga communities or with Callitris glaucophylla , or in alluvium along watercourses in chenopod low shrubland. Flowering is sporadic and probably related to rainfall; apparently few pods are produced.
Following N.Hall & L.A.S.Johnson, The Names of Acacias of New South Wales 34 (1993), the epithet ‘carneorum’ is adopted here instead of ‘carnei’.
An excellent sand binder due to its gregarious, suckering habit.
Biochemically related to A. crombiei and A. peuce , see A. crombiei for note. See also A. atrox .
Type of accepted name
Thackaringa, N.S.W., Oct. 1907, J.E.Carne 16 ; holo: NSW.
Illustrations
B.R.Maslin, in J.P.Jessop (ed.), Fl. Central Australia 119, fig. 158J (1981); G.M.Cunningham et al ., Pl. W New South Wales 357 (1981); T.Tame, Acacias SE Australia 101, fig. 96, pl. 96 (1992); D.J.E.Whibley & D.E.Symon, Acacias S. Australia 2nd edn, 109 (1992); all as A. carnei .
Representative collections
S.A.: Minburra Stn, 30 Apr. 1965, S.A. Pastoral Board (AD); Bimbowrie Stn, D.J.E.Whibley 6133 (AD, MO). N.S.W.: 8 km NW of Hewart Downs HS, J.Pickard 1750 (NSW); 6 km W of Tandou HS, J.Pickard 2347 (K, NSW).
(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.
