Acacia floribunda (Vent.) Willd., Sp. Pl . 4: 1051 (1806)
Gossamer Wattle
Spreading shrub or tree, 2–8 m high, 2–15 m wide. Branches commonly pendulous, angular, often pubescent. Stipules inconspicuous or absent. Phyllodes linear to narrowly lanceolate, 5–19 cm long, 1.5–12 mm wide, acute and often mucronulate, thin and pliable, with 1–3 primary veins, the secondary veins 6–10, parallel, anastomosing; gland absent; pulvinus present. Inflorescences with very short peduncles; spikes solitary or twinned, interrupted, 2–8 cm long; bracteoles absent or if present then deltoid and less than 0.5 mm long. Flowers loosely packed, 4-merous; sepals united. Pods subcylindrical, constricted between seeds, mostly straight, 6–12 cm long, 2–4 mm wide, chartaceous. Seeds elliptic, 3–5 mm long, glossy, brown; funicle folded about 4–8 times; aril small, irregularly thickened.
Widespread in forests and woodlands along the eastern coastal and subcoastal regions from Stanthorpe, Mt Barney and Tambourine Mt in SE Qld, southwards through N.S.W. to Briagolong N of Stratford in eastern Vic. with an isolated occurrence at Nambour near Maroochydore in south-eastern Qld. It is often common along the banks of streams.
Easily distinguished by the absence of glands on the phyllodes, and the thin and mostly pliable phyllodes. Acacia floribunda apparently hybridises with A. oxycedrus .
Type of accepted name
Cultivated in Cels’ garden in France, coll. unknown; n.v.
Synonymy
Mimosa floribunda Vent., Choix Pl. t.13 (1803–1804); Phyllodoce floribunda (Vent.) Link, Handbuch 2: 133 (1831); Acacia longifolia var. floribunda (Vent.) F.Muell., Pl. Victoria 2: 31 (1863), nom. inval. [not effectively published, fide A.B.Court, R.S.Cowan & B.R.Maslin, Nuytsia 9(3): 315–318 (1994)]; A. longifolia var. floribunda (Vent.) Benth., Fl. Austral. 2: 398 (1864); A. retinodes var. floribunda (Vent.) H.Vilm., J. Roy. Hort. Soc. 16: 84, fig. 2 (1894), as to the caption to the figure; A. longifolia f. floribunda (Vent.) Siebert & Voss, Vilm. Blumengrtn. edn 3, 1: 228 (1896); Racosperma floribundum (Vent.) Pedley, Austrobaileya 2: 348 (1987). Type: as for accepted name.
Acacia angustifolia Lodd., Bot. Cab. 8: t. 763 (1823), nom. illeg. , non (Jacq.) H.L.Wendl. (1820). Type: cultivated specimen, date and coll. unknown; n.v.
Acacia intermedia A.Cunn. ex Hook., Bot. Mag. 59: t. 3203 (1832); A. floribunda var. latifolia Benth. in W.J.Hooker, London J. Bot. 1: 371 (1842). Type: cultivated at the Royal Gardens at Kew, date and coll. unknown; n.v.
Illustrations
J.H.Maiden, Forest Fl. New South Wales 6(7): pl. 216, figs A–H (1916); L.F.Costermans, Native Trees Shrubs SE Australia 305 (1981); M.H.Simmons, Acacias Australia 255 (1981); B.A.Lebler, Wildfl. SE Queensland 2: 18 and pl. between pp. 35 and 36 (1981); T.Tame, Acacias SE Australia 36, pl. 9 (1992).
Representative collections
Qld: Severn R., 16 km SW of Stanthorpe, L.Pedley 4145 (BRI, MEL); Mt Barney, Macpherson Ra., I.R.Telford 518 (CANB). N.S.W.: 10 miles [16 km] W of Tenterfield, E.F.Constable 7114 (MEL, NSW); The Royal Natl Park near Sydney, C.T.White 8540 (BRI); Eden, L.Pedley 1700 (BRI, MEL). Vic.: 8 km NNE of Briagolong, P.K.Gullen 315 (MEL).
(ABC)
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.
