Acacia ericifolia Benth. (as ‘ericaefolia’), London J. Bot . 1: 345 (1842)
Shrub 0.3–1 m high, sometimes semi-prostrate or to 2 m high. Branchlets loosely villous to appressed-pilose with hairs curved to subcrisped, glabrescent. Stipules caducous, connate, c. 2 mm long. Phyllodes linear to narrowly oblong, channelled above or infolded (when dry), planoconvex to horizontally flattened, 5–25 mm long, 0.5–1.5 mm wide, fleshy, sulcate when dry, green; upper phyllodes loosely villous, subglabrescent; nerves obscure or absent; gland (obscure) on upper surface near apex of phyllode. Inflorescences simple, 1 or 2 per axil; peduncles 4–10 mm long, glabrous; heads globular, 3.5–4 mm diam., 18–33-flowered, golden. Flowers 5-merous; sepals free. Pods linear, scarcely constricted between seeds, arcuate to once-coiled, to 2.5 cm long, 1.5 mm wide, thinly coriaceous-crustaceous, longitudinally reticulate, glabrous or pubescent. Seeds longitudinal, oblong, 2–2.5 mm long, arillate.
Occurs from Kalbarri S to North Dandalup, S of Perth, south-western W.A. Grows on coastal cliffs and sand plains in northern areas, elsewhere it occurs on sandstone and lateritic hills, in heath and, on the Darling scarp, in Wandoo and Marri woodland where it may occur around granite outcrops.
Perhaps should be united with A. leptospermoides with which it shares the unusual characters of diaphyllodinous foliage (see A. diaphyllodinea for description and references) and connate stipules, as well as similar inflorescences and pods. They are distinguished by vegetative characters. The specimen, Drummond 2: 141 , cited under A. ericifolia by G.Bentham, Fl. Austral . 2: 341 (1864), is A. leptospermoides subsp. leptospermoides . Also similar to A. vassalii .
Type of accepted name
Swan R., W.A., J.Drummond s.n .; holo: K.
Synonymy
Acacia hookeri Meisn., in J.G.C.Lehmann, Pl. Preiss . 1: 12 (1844). Type: near Mitchell’s property, Swan R. [property of W.Mitchell, Upper Swan, 31 46’S, 116 01’E], W.A., 29 June 1839, L.Preiss 981 ; lecto: LD, fide B.R.Maslin & R.S.Cowan, Nuytsia 9: 407 (1994); isolecto: C, FI, G, GOET, HBG, K, L, M, MEL, MO, NAP, NY, P, PERTH (Fragment ex MEL), RO (sphalm. ‘464’), STR, TCD (sphalm. ‘464’); Swan R., W.A., J.Drummond 300 ; paralecto: BM (sheet labelled herb. Shuttleworth), G, G-DC, MEL, OXF, P, PERTH (Fragment ex MEL).
Acacia ericifolia var. crassa E.Pritz., Bot. Jahrb. Syst . 35: 294 (1904). Type: N from Mingenew, W.A., 9 June 1901, L.Diels 3058 ; lecto: PERTH (Fragment ex B), fide B.R.Maslin, Nuytsia 2: 209 (1978); inter flumina Moore et Murchison, W.A., June 1901, E.Pritzel 376 ; paralecto: B, E, G, K, L, LY, M, MO, NSW, P.
Acacia ericifolia var. typica E.Pritz., loc. cit ., nom. inval .
Illustration
F. von Mueller, Iconogr. Austral. Acacia dec. 2 [pl. 10] (1887).
Representative collections
W.A.: Red Hill, Perth- Toodyay road, A.S.George 3714 (PERTH); North Dandalup, N.Kuhnberg 3 (PERTH); 1.6 km NE of Nabawa, B.R.Maslin 720 (MEL, NSW, PERTH); Red Bluff, 5 km S of Kalbarri, P.G.Wilson 6547 (MEL, 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.
