Home
Go to Species Gallery Go to Image Gallery Go to Info Gallery Go to For Schools Go to Contact Go to About  
 

Acacia elata

Jump to a taxon beginning with the letter:
A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y Z

Acacia elata A.Cunn. ex Benth., London J. Bot . 1: 383 (1842)

Mountain Cedar Wattle

Tree usually 7–20 m high; trunk d.b.h. to 0.6 m. Bark rough at base, grey to blackish. Branchlets terete or slightly flattened, faintly ridged, golden-puberulous when young, later white- or grey-puberulous. Young foliage-tips golden or cream-coloured, silky-hairy and with dark glandular hairs. Leaves dark green, much paler beneath; pulvinus swollen; petiole 2.5–7.5 (–9) cm long, terete, with 1 prominent, dark brown gland –2/3 below basal pinnae; rachis (3–) 8–17 (–22) cm long, eglandular or sometimes 1 gland at base of uppermost pair of pinnae; pinnae 2–7 pairs, (7–) 10–23 cm long, with a gland often at base of upper 1–5 or more pairs of pinnules; pinnules 8–22 pairs, lanceolate to narrowly lanceolate, often curved, (10–) 20–60 mm long, (3–) 5–13 mm wide (lower ones shorter than others), glabrous or with sparse appressed hairs above, with moderately dense white or yellow, appressed hairs beneath, midnerve central, with 1 or sometimes 2 secondary nerve(s) from base not reaching the margins and sometimes minor lateral nerves, apex acutely acuminate. Inflorescences in axillary or terminal false-panicles. Heads 30–50-flowered, pale yellow or cream-coloured. Pods straight-sided or slightly indented between seeds, flat, 4–17.5 cm long, 9–15 mm wide, firmly chartaceous to coriaceous, dark brown to grey, densely greenish yellow-puberulous, later glabrous; margin prominent. 2 n = 26, C.Hamant et al ., Taxon 24: 669 (1975).

Occurs on the coast and tablelands from Orara R. S to Budawang Ra., N.S.W., common on the Blue Mtns and in the Moss Vale- Mittagong district; occasionally naturalised in Vic. Naturalized in a few places in south-western W.A. Grows in tall open forest and rainforest, often along streams, in deep sandy soils. Flowers mainly late Dec.–Mar.

The specimen of I.C.Clarke 2457 is from a plant invading roadside eucalypt forest and has pinnules to 85 mm long. Acacia elata is a fast growing, long-lived and suitable for cultivation in parks and large gardens or as windbreaks, being one of the tallest species in sect. Botrycephalae .

Type of accepted name

Shaded ravines, New Holland [‘shaded ravines, interior of N.S.Wales’ in protologue], A.Cunningham ; syn: K (photo CANB).

Synonymy

Racosperma elatum (A.Cunn. ex Benth.) Pedley, Austrobaileya 2: 358 (1987). Type: as for accepted name.

Acacia elata Graham, in N.Wallich, Numer. List [ Catal .] 5233 (1832), nom. nud .

Illustrations

F.Mueller, Iconogr. Austral. Acacia dec. 12 [pl. 7] (1888); J.H.Maiden, Forest Fl. New South Wales 3: pl. 84 (1906/1907); M.Simmons, Acacias Australia 2: 309 (1988).

Representative collections

N.S.W. 5 miles [8.1 km] SE of Bell, on Mt Tomah road, 11 Jan. 1960, E.F.Constable s.n. (NSW); Bulli Pass, 25 Feb. 1948, E.F.Constable s.n. (BRI, MEL, NSW); Devlin’s Ck, Cheltenham, R.G.Coveny 12471, L.McDougall & P.Wilson (B, CANB, CHR, MEL, MO, PERTH, TL, PRE, W); Springwood, C.Debenham (NSW249157); Hazelbrook, M.D.Tindale s.n. (NSW60545). Vic.: c. 3 km NW of Garfield, on eastern boundary of ‘Gumbaya Park’, I.C.Clarke 2457 (MEL, NSW).

(MDT & PGK)

WATTLE Acacias of Australia CD-ROM graphic

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.

Page last updated: Thursday 22 June 2023