Acacia complanata A.Cunn. ex Benth., London J. Bot. 1: 369 (1842)
Long Pod Wattle , Flat-stemmed Wattle
Shrub or tree to 5 m high. Branchlets flexuose, flattened, narrowly winged, glabrous. Phyllodes often patent, narrowly elliptic, mostly 5–10 cm long and 12–30 mm wide, obtuse to subacute, thinly coriaceous, glabrous, with 7–9 prominent, distant main nerves and openly reticulate inbetween; pulvinus 2–3 mm long. Inflorescences 4–8 per axil in axillary fascicle or sometimes fascicles racemose on axis to 30 mm long; peduncles 8–12 mm long, glabrous; heads globular, 6 mm diam., 35–45 (–60)-flowered, golden. Flowers 5-merous; sepals free to 1/2 united. Pods linear, rounded over seeds alternately on each side and shallowly to moderately constricted between them, to 15 cm long, 7.5–10 mm wide, thinly coriaceous-crustaceous, wrinkled reticulately over seeds, glabrous. Seeds longitudinal, subglobular, 4–5 mm long, dull, dark brown; funicle encircling seed.
Widespread, occurring in south-eastern Qld from the Jericho area E to Bundaberg, also SE to N.S.W. on the Dumaresq R. and northern coastal parts S to Coffs Harbour. Grows in sand, gravel and loam, usually over sandstone, in dry sclerophyll forest and heath.
The markedly flattened branchlets and seeds with an encircling funicle serve to relate A. complanata to A. homaloclada ; these characters distinguish these species from related taxa such as A. simsii and A. multisiliqua (which have narrower phyllodes). Acacia complanata is also similar to A. fleckeri .
Type of accepted name
N of Dumaresq R., Qld, 1827, A.Cunningham 84 ; syn: BM, K n.v. , fide L.Pedley, Austrobaileya 1: 210 (1978); Brisbane R., Qld, C.Fraser ; syn: K n.v. , fide L.Pedley, loc. cit.
Synonymy
Racosperma complanatum (A.Cunn. ex Benth.) Pedley, Austrobaileya 2: 347 (1987). Type: as for accepted name.
Acacia anceps Hook., Icon. Pl . 2: t. 167 (1837), non DC. (1825). Type: Brisbane R., Qld, C.Fraser ; holo: K.
Illustrations
B.A.Lebler, Wildfl. SE Queensland 2: 70 & colour pl. (1981); M.Simmons, Acacias Australia 225 (1981); T.Tame, Acacias SE Australia 66, fig. 48, pl. 48 (1992).
Representative collections
Qld: c. 25 km S of Springsure on road to Rolleston, B.O’Keeffe 850 (PERTH). N.S.W.: 17.7 km NE of Maclean, J.O’Hara & R.Coveny 3511 (NSW, PERTH).
(RSC & 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.
