Acacia echinula DC., Prodr . 2: 449 (1825)
Hedgehog Wattle
Intricate shrub to 2 m high. Branchlets hirsutellous to puberulous. Stipules normally setaceous, 1–2 mm long. Phyllodes rather crowded, subsessile, often subverticillate, patent to inclined, terete or subterete, often drying quadrangular or flat with a pronounced midrib on each face, 5–14 mm long, 1–1.5 mm wide, pungent, rigid, green, glabrous; gland obscure, 0.5–2 mm above base. Inflorescences simple, 1 per axil; peduncles 5–15 mm long, stout, glabrous; basal bracts 3 and fused; heads globular, large, 5–10 mm diam. (dry), densely 27–42-flowered, usually mid-golden; bracteole laminae long-acuminate, 1.5–2 mm long, dark brown, exserted beyond flowers in bud. Flowers 5-merous; sepals 1/3–2/3-united; petals 1-nerved. Pods to 4 cm long, 4–5 mm wide, thinly coriaceous-crustaceous, blackish, glabrous. Seeds longitudinal, oblong-elliptic, 4 mm long, dark brown, obscurely mottled yellow, exarillate; funicle filiform.
Occurs in eastern N.S.W. between Howes Valley and Nowra, also further N near Grafton. Usually grows in sand over sandstone, in dry sclerophyll forest or sometimes in heath.
A member of the ‘ A. ulicifolia group’ recognised by its long, stout (0.5–1 mm diam.) peduncles, large flower-heads (5–10 mm diam. when dry), long-acuminate, exserted bracteoles and quadrangular phyllodes (when dry). Especially close to A. asparagoides . The flower-heads are usually a bright mid-golden, but sometimes they are a lighter shade of yellow (e.g. B.R.Maslin 5886 , K, NSW, PERTH), although not a creamy yellow as in A. ulicifolia . May form hybrids with A. ulicifolia (see discussion under A. ulicifolia ).
Type of accepted name
Australia [N.S.W.], Sieber 447 ; holo: G-DC; iso: K, MEL, NSW.
Synonymy
Acacia echinata Don, Gen. Hist. 2: 402 (1832), nom. illeg. (superfluous). Type: as for accepted name.
Illustrations
I.B.Armitage, Acacias New South Wales 15 (1978); M.Simmons, Acacias Australia 2: 27 & pl. 7 (1988); T.Tame, Acacias SE Australia 98, fig. 92, pl. 92 (1992).
Representative collections
N.S.W.: between Putty and Windsor, 8 Sept. 1948, E.F. Constable s.n. (NSW, PERTH); Bunyabba Nature Reserve, c. 25 km N of Grafton, R.Coveny 4987 (NSW); Blue Mtns Natl Park, 20 km SW of Bilpin on Bells Line of Rd to Lithgow, B.R.Maslin 5880 (NSW, PERTH).
(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.
