Acacia catenulata C.T.White, Proc. Roy. Soc. Queensland 55: 63 (1944)
Bendee
Tree to 15 m tall, the trunk deeply fluted, usually with many short horizontal branches. Branchlets angular, with scattered short hairs; young growth dark. Phyllodes flat, straight, 3–9.5 cm long, 3–8 (–12) mm wide, glabrescent, finely longitudinally striate, the midnerve usually more prominent. Inflorescences single or in pairs in axils, or on short axillary shoots; peduncles 2–4 mm; spikes 10–30 mm long. Flowers 5- (rarely 4-) merous; sepals spathulate, 0.4–0.6 mm long, free, with a few hairs on tips; corolla 1–1.2 mm, occasionally a few hairs on lobes; stamens c. 2.5 mm long; ovary with dense long hairs. Pods not stipitate, contracted between seeds, flat, straight, to 8 cm long, 4–5.5 mm wide, isthmus 1.5 mm wide, thin, longitudinally wrinkled, pale brown, glabrous, breaking up into 1-seeded articles. Seeds longitudinal, oblong, 4–5 mm long, 2–2.5 mm wide; aril small, obliquely terminal, yellow.
Confined to Qld, except for a record from N.T.: from a little E of Surat to the Grey Ra. in the south, extending north to White Mountains Natl Park, near Pentland, with a remarkable disjunction to the Glyde R. area, N.T.; invariably in pure stands or with emergent eucalypts on shallow soils on scarps of weathered sediments, sometimes adjoining, but not mixing with, stands of A. shirleyi or A. aneura .
WATTLE note: Specimens from the Pilbara region of W.A. resemble A. catenulata in phyllode and pod but the trunks are not obviously fluted; further study is needed to determine the status of these plants.
Probably more closely related to A. shirleyi than to species of the A. aneura complex, although before its recognition as a distinct species it was usually identified as A. aneura . In the field, however, it is easily identified by its its dark fluted trunk. It is also distinguished by its phyllodes that have close parallel nerves without pubescent furrows between them, its midnerve that is slightly more prominent than other nerves, and, principally, by its flat pods that are strongly constricted between the seeds.
Type of accepted name
Between Mitchell and Morven, Qld, C.T.White 12092 ; holo: BRI; iso: MEL, K.
Synonymy
Racosperma catenulatum (C.T.White) Pedley, Austrobaileya 2: 346 (1987). Type: as for accepted name.
Representative collections
N.T.: Sandstone ranges of the Glyde R. area, c. 304 km ENE of Newcastle Waters, 4 Sept. 1971, H.B . Gill s.n. (BRI). Qld: 7 km NE of Belyando Crossing, E.J.Thompson BUC 487 & P.R.Sharpe (BRI, MEL, MO, PR); Comet, L.Pedley 4090 (BRI); Ambathalla Ra., 45 km c. E of Adavale, L.Pedley 5477 (AD, BRI, DNA, MEL, MEXU, PR).
(LP)
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.
