Acacia crombiei C.T.White, Proc. Roy. Soc. Queensland 53: 213 (1942)
Pink Gidgee
Tree to c. 10 m high; habit reported to resemble A. cana and A. cambagei . Branchlets flexuose, angled at extremities, slightly pruinose, glabrous. Stipules absent. Phyllodes narrowly linear, straight to shallowly recurved, 10–15 cm long, 3–8 mm wide, narrowed at both ends, coriaceous, pale green, glabrous or subglabrous; midrib and marginal nerves prominent, the anastomosing lateral nerves arched near the margin; gland oblong to linear, 1–2 mm long, 0–4 mm above pulvinus. Inflorescences 1–4-headed racemes; raceme axes 2–10 mm long, glabrous; peduncles 1–2 cm long, glabrous; heads globular. Flowers 5-merous; sepals free, linear-spathulate. Pods narrowly oblong, to 10 cm long, c. 2 cm wide, firmly chartaceous to thinly coriaceous, transversely reticulate, glabrous. Seeds transverse, oblong to widely elliptic, flat, 8–10 mm long, 7–8.5 mm wide, slightly shiny, dark brown, exarillate.
An uncommon species occurring in small isolated populations from near Muttaburra, N of Longreach to Elmore Stn N of Richmond, in central Qld.
Flavonoid studies by M.D.Tindale & D.G.Roux, Phytochemistry 13: 829- 839 (1974), show A. crombiei as biochemically related to A. carneorum and A. peuce . Heartwood of these three species contain peltogynoids which were previously thought restricted to subfamily Caesalpinioideae. The physical properties of the wood of A. peuce are very similar to that of A. crombiei , except it is much denser. Acacia crombiei is readily distinguished from both A. carneorum and A. peuce by its flat, non-pungent phyllodes. It resembles some forms of A. fasciculifera which is distinguished by its generally broader phyllodes with smaller glands and narrower pods with longitudinal seeds.
Type of accepted name
Near Longreach, Qld, June 1940, J.Crombie ; holo: BRI n.v. , fide L.Pedley, Austrobaileya 1: 262 (1980); iso: K, NY.
Synonymy
Racosperma crombiei (C.T.White) Pedley, J. Linn. Soc., Bot. 92: 247 (1986). Type: as for accepted name.
Representative collections
Qld: Burleigh Stn, 1991, K.Jackson (PERTH); ‘Ronald Plains’, 64 km N of Richmond, 9 May 1965, L.G.Walker (BRI).
(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.
