Acacia chalkeri Maiden, J. & Proc. Roy. Soc. New South Wales 49: 482 (1916)
Chalker’s Wattle
Bushy shrub to 3 m high. Branchlets angled at extremities, dark reddish, glabrous. Phyllodes on raised stem-projections, ascending to erect, oblanceolate to narrowly oblanceolate, 2.5–5.5 cm long, 3–10 mm wide, obtuse-mucronulate, thin, sometimes glaucous, glabrous; midrib fine yet distinct; lateral nerves rather obscure; gland not prominent, 1–10 mm above pulvinus. Inflorescences 6–8-headed racemes; raceme axes 10–20 mm long, glabrous; peduncles 3–5 mm long, slender, glabrous; heads globular, densely 18–23-flowered, bright yellow. Flowers 5-merous; sepals c. 5/6-united; petals 1.4 mm long. Pods stipitate, linear, to 9 cm long, 5–7 mm wide, firmly chartaceous, slightly pruinose, glabrous. Seeds longitudinal, oblong to elliptic, 4–5 mm long, slightly shiny, black; funicle encircling seed in a single fold, convoluted, dark red-brown; aril thick.
Restricted to limestone soils in the Wombeyan Caves area, N.S.W. Flowers principally Oct.- Jan.
A member of the ‘ Acacia microbotrya group’ perhaps nearest A. amoena which has phyllodes with 2–4 exserted glands, sepals free to c. 1/2-united and dark brown bracteoles that are clearly evident in buds. The two species are sometimes sympatric. Closely resembling A. wattsiana (S.A.) and may resemble small phyllode forms of A. rubida .
Type of accepted name
‘Wombeyan Caves, N.S.Wales, on the limestone ( R.H.Cambage, E.C.Andrews and J.H.Maiden , October 1905)’; ?syn: NSW166394 and 166395.
Illustrations
I.B.Armitage, Acacias New South Wales 100 (1978); T.Tame, Acacias SE Australia 164, fig. 184, pl. 184 (1992).
Representative collection
N.S.W.: Entrance road to Wombeyan Caves, A.L.Mitchell 535 (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.
