Acacia polyadenia (Pedley) Pedley, Austrobaileya 3: 216 (1990)
Glabrous prostrate shrub or small tree. Branchlets slender, red-brown, resinous when young. Phyllodes linear-elliptic, shallowly recurved, 4–8.5 cm long, 3–5 mm wide, acute with callus tip, resinous when young, with 7–14 subdistant veins per face, the midrib the most conspicuous; glands 1–3, not prominent, the lowermost 0–1 mm above pulvinus. Inflorescences simple, 1 or 2 per axil; peduncles 6–8 mm long, resinous; spikes 10–20 mm long, somewhat interrupted. Flowers 5-merous, resinous; sepals united to about the middle, the calyx cupular. Pods (not seen, fide protologue) narrowly oblong-oblanceolate, narrowed at base, 4.5 cm long, woody, obscurely longitudinally veined, resinous, opening elastically from apex; margins thick. Seed not seen.
Known only from 3 islands off the central Qld coast, namely, Shaw Is. in the Lindeman Group, Palm Is. in the Palm Group and Whitsunday Is. in the Whitsunday Group. As noted by L.Pedley, Austrobaileya 2: 322 (1987), this is an unusual distribution pattern. Habit and habitat data are scanty, but it has been recorded as a small tree occurring in heath on a hillside overlooking the beach, and as a prostrate shrub 30 cm tall growing in wind-shorn scrub at 42 m alt.
Type of accepted name
Shaw Is., Lindeman Group, Qld, 6 Nov. 1985, G.N.Batianoff 3354 & C.Dalliston ; holo: BRI; iso: K n.v. , MO n.v. , NSW n.v.
Synonymy
Racosperma polyadenium Pedley, Austrobaileya 2: 322 (1987). Type: as for accepted name.
[ Acacia drepanocarpa auct. non F.Muell.: G.Bentham, Fl. Austral . 2: 402 (1864), p.p ., as to the Henne collections cited, fide L.Pedley, Austrobaileya 2: 322 (1987)]
Illustration
F.Mueller, Iconogr. Austral. Acacia dec. 11 [pl. 10] (1888), as to flowering material.
Representative collections
Qld: Palm Is., [D.]Henne (MEL108106 n.v. , NSW359860); Whitsunday Is., Henne (MEL108105 n.v. ).
(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.
