Acacia echinuliflora G.J.Leach, Nuytsia 9: 355–357 (1994)
Tree or rarely a shrub (2.5–) 4–8 m high. Bark fibrous or shaggy, brown to black. Branchlets terete, reddish brown, resinous. Phyllodes narrowly elliptic or oblanceolate, flat, straight or slightly curved, 9–18.5 cm long, 6–14 mm wide, thinly coriaceous, glabrous, shiny; midrib and two secondary nerves more prominent, and minor nerves 4–8 per mm, parallel, anastomoses absent; gland 1, basal, inconspicuous. Spikes 1 or 2 per axil, 5–7 cm long, bright yellow to golden. Flowers 5-merous; receptacle, calyx, corolla tube and base of lobes densely tomentose with yellow or rarely hyaline hairs; sepals free, 0.45–0.9 mm long; corolla 0.9–1.4 mm long, dissected to its length; ovary densely sericeous. Pods linear to oblong, straight, undulate, raised over seeds alternately on each side, 7–9 mm wide, straw-coloured, transversely reticulate, resinous. Seeds transverse, obloid or ellipsoidal, brown or black, arillate; pleurogram with pale halo; areole closed, depressed, paler than seed.
Occurs along the escarpment of western Arnhem Land and southwards to Nitmiluk Natl Park, N.T. Grows on sandy soils associated with stream margins draining the escarpment. Flowers June–Aug.
Acacia echinuliflora is most closely related to A. plectocarpa and A. armitii but differs from both in having petals invested with a indumentum of dense, patent, yellow hairs, fide G.Leach, Nuytsia 9: 355–357 (1994).
Type of accepted name
Bower Bird Billabong, Kakadu N.P., N.T., 12 Sept. 1984, G.Wightman 1704 & C.R.Dunlop ; holo: DNA; iso: AD, CANB, K, MEL.
Illustration
G.J. Leach, Nuytsia 9: 356, fig. 2 (1994).
Representative collections
N.T.: Jim Jim Creek, N.Byrnes 2729 (BRI, CANB, NSW, NT); Barramundie Gorge, I.Cowie 141 (DNA); Mt Gilruth area, C.R.Dunlop 4868 (BRI, CANB, DNA, K, NSW, NT); UDP Falls, J.Mckean 1137 (CANB, DNA); Edith Falls, J.Must 1664 (CANB, DNA, NSW, NT).
(GJL)
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.
