Acacia phasmoides J.H.Willis, Muelleria 1: 121, t. 10 (1967)
Phantom Wattle
Open shrub 1–4 m high; stems silvery grey; branches slender. Branchlets sparsely appressed-puberulous with short, straight, silvery hairs. Phyllodes distant, narrowly linear, slender, incurved, some tortuous, flat or (especially near base) quadrangular, 5–11 cm long, 1–2 mm wide, often uncinate with a coarsely pungent to innocuous mucro, glabrous to subglabrous, asperulous on margins and midrib; midrib narrow but raised. Inflorescences simple, 2 per axil; heads obloid, sessile, 8–12-flowered, light golden. Flowers 4-merous; sepals 2/3-united. Pods submoniliform, curved to sigmoid, to 9 cm long, 2.5–4.5 mm wide, thinly coriaceous, longitudinally nerved, densely appressed white-puberulous when young, subglabrous at maturity. Seeds longitudinal, 3–4 mm long, subshiny, dark brown; aril terminal.
An uncommon, localised species occurring on Pine Mtn, Vic., and c. 35 km away in the Dora Dora State Forest, N.S.W. At Pine Mtn it grows among granite rocks in sheltered gullies.
This species is an insubstantial shrub with an open, wraith-like appearance. Close relatives for this species are uncertain, although M.D.Tindale, Telopea 1: 371 (1978), suggested affinities with A. genistifolia It is superficially similar to A. microneura from W.A., which is readily distinguished by its pluri-nerved phyllodes.
Type of accepted name
Pine Mtn, about 9.6 km SE of Walwa, Vic., 17 Nov. 1964, J.H.Willis & K.C.Rogers ; holo: MEL.
Illustrations
J.H.Willis, loc. cit. ; L.F.Costermans, Native Trees & Shrubs SE Australia 303 (1981); M.Simmons, Acacias Australia 2: 93 & pl. 24 (1988); T.Tame, Acacias SE Australia 103, fig. 99, pl. 99 (1992).
Representative collections
N.S.W.: Dora Dora State Forest, 23 Sept. 1977, M.Butz (NSW). Vic.: Pine Mtn, 8 Dec. 1974, J.H.Willis (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.
