Acacia marramamba Maslin, Nuytsia 4: 94; 95, fig. 9 & 101, fig. 11 (1982)
Shrubby glabrous tree 2–3 m high, sometimes to 5 m. Branchlets red, light brown or orange. Stipules spinose, commonly absent from mature nodes. Phyllodes inequilaterally elliptic, with a conspicuously rounded adaxial margin and almost straight abaxial margin, 2–4 cm long, 1–2 cm wide, scarcely undulate, acute to acuminate, pungent, coriaceous, pale green to subglaucous; midrib prominent and excentric; lateral nerves obscure and sparingly anastomising. Inflorescences racemose; raceme axes 6–15 cm long, red to red-brown; peduncles twinned, 1–2 cm long, red to red-brown; heads globular, 25–35-flowered, light golden to mid-golden. Flowers 5-merous; sepals free; petals red to red-brown at apices. Pods narrowly oblong, slightly curved, to 7.5 cm long, 7–8 mm wide, chartaceous to thinly coriaceous, light brown. Seeds mostly oblique, broadly elliptic to almost orbicular, dull, black, 4.5–5 mm long; aril clavate.
Scattered in the Pilbara region of north-western W.A. from Duck Ck Stn E to Balfour Downs Stn, also in the adjacent Ashburton, Gascoyne and Murchison R. upper catchment areas (as far south as Mt Fraser). Grows in skeletal sandy loam on rocky hills (Marra Mamba Iron Formation) in open scrub or tall open shrubland with spinifex ground cover.
A member of the ‘ A. pyrifolia group’. Phyllode shape and inflorescence structure are often similar to that of A. inaequilatera which has thick, corky bark, normally pruinose branchlets, mostly broader, closely reticulate phyllodes, purple-red racemes, peduncles and flower buds, as well as funicles which encircle the seeds.
Type of accepted name
Marandoo Ridge, Hamersley Ra., W.A., 24 June 1975, M.Trudgen 1338 ; holo: PERTH; iso: CANB, K.
Illustrations
B.R.Maslin, op. cit. 95, fig. 9.
Representative collections
W.A.: 3 km SSW of Mt Fraser [Mt Padbury Stn], R.J. Cranfield 5719 (PERTH); Rhodes Ridge, 53.5 km NW of Newman, B.R.Maslin 4610 (K, MEL, NY, PERTH); 16 km S of Kumarina on Great Northern Hwy, B.R.Maslin 4965 (PERTH); 22 km ESE of Quarry Hill [Duck Ck Stn], K.Newbey 10707 (CANB, PERTH); Mt Augustus, K.Newbey 11707 (CANB, 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.
