Acacia flavescens A.Cunn. ex Benth., London J. Bot. 1: 381 (1842)
Yellow Wattle , Red Wattle
Tree 4–20 m high. Bark rough, furrowed and somewhat shaggy. Branchlets stellate-hairy, the hairs golden on new shoots. Phyllodes inequilaterally narrowly elliptic to lanceolate, falcate, 9–30 cm long, 2–6 cm wide, acuminate (except young plants), glabrous, with 3 prominent main nerves (only the lowermost reaching apex) and obviously reticulate inbetween; basal gland elongated, 3 or 4 additional smaller glands in indentations or occasionally on short projections along upper margin. Inflorescences in axillary racemes or terminal panicles, sometimes leafy; raceme axes 2–10 cm long, golden stellate-puberulous; peduncles 6–28 mm long, 1 to several per node, yellowish stellate-puberulous; heads globular, 4.5–6 mm diam., 30–60-flowered, cream-coloured. Flowers 5-merous; sepals 2/3–3/4-united. Pods flat, to 12 cm long, 1.5–2.5 cm wide, thinly coriaceous, transversely reticulate, glabrous. Seeds transverse, elliptic, 6–7 mm long, dull, black, arillate.
Widespread, mainly in near-coastal areas, from Cape York S to Brisbane, eastern Qld. Grows in sand, in eucalypt forest and woodland.
Seemingly related to A. leptoloba which is most readily distinguished by having smaller, obtuse phyllodes and golden stellate hairs confined to tips of raceme axes and very young phyllodes. Stellate hairs, which are found in both these species, are uncommon in Acacia but they occur also in a few related species such as A. auricoma and A. sericata .
Type of accepted name
N.E. Coast, Cunningham [Percy Isle No. 1, Qld, 3–4 June 1819, A.Cunningham 318 , see L.Pedley, Austrobaileya 1: 217 (1978)]; holo: K; iso: K.
Synonymy
Racosperma flavescens (A.Cunn. ex Benth.) Pedley, Austrobaileya 2: 348 (1987). Type: as for accepted name.
Acacia flavescens var. nobilis Domin, Biblioth. Bot. 89: 264 (1926). Type: savanna forest near Cape Grafton, Qld, Jan. 1910, K.Domin ‘5126’ ; lecto: PR n.v. , fide L.Pedley, loc. cit. (1978).
Acacia flavescens var. typica Domin, Biblioth. Bot . 89: 264 (1926), nom. inval.
Illustrations
F. von Mueller, Iconogr. Austral. Acac. dec. 8 [pl. 9] (1887); M.Simmons, Acacias Australia 2: 197 (1988); E.Anderson, Pl. Central Queensland 27 (1993).
Representative collections
Qld: Little Ramsay Bay, Hinchinbrook Is., R.Cumming 2868 (PERTH); 1.9 km E of Watsonville, C.F.Puttock & P.G.Wilson UNSW13353 (PERTH).
(RSC & 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.
