Acacia semirigida Maiden & Blakely, Proc. Roy. Soc. Queensland 38: 116, t. 16, figs 7–14 (1927)
Stony Ridge Wattle
Shrub or tree to c. 4 m tall. Branchlets angled at extremities, dark reddish, glabrous. Phyllodes commonly ascending to erect, narrowly oblanceolate to narrowly elliptic or almost linear, straight to shallowly incurved, mostly 4–8 cm long and 4–8 mm wide, thin to moderately coriaceous, glabrous, with distinct midrib and marginal nerves, the lateral nerves absent or few and obscure; glands prominent and normally exserted, usually 2 or 3, the lowermost 5–20 mm above pulvinus. Inflorescences racemose; raceme axes 2–5 cm long, glabrous; peduncles 3–6 mm long, glabrous; heads globular, small, 15–25-flowered, pale yellow; bracteole laminae subcircular. Flowers 5-merous; sepals united. Pods straight-edged or slightly constricted between seeds, to 12 cm long, 8–10 mm wide, thinly coriaceous, dark brown or reddish brown, glabrous, slightly shiny. Seeds longitudinal, narrowly oblong to slightly elliptic, 7–8 mm long, slightly shiny, black, minutely pitted; aril clavate.
Occurs sporadically in south-eastern Qld from Goombungee and Kogan to near Eidsvold. The Stannary Hills locality given on the T.L.Bancroft paratype is evidently an error for Eidsvold. L.Pedley, Austrobaileya 1: 292 (1980), reported the species from the Blackdown Tableland but these plants appear not to be A. semirigida (see note below). Grows usually on shallow soil over sandstone in open forest.
Flowering and sterile specimens from the Blackdown Tableland differ from those further south in having only a single phyllode gland (e.g. K.A.Williams 85029 , BRI). Further information is needed in order to ascertain the status of this entity.
Perhaps most closely related to A. everistii which has broader, uniglandular phyllodes. Sometimes resembles A. amoena and some forms of A. rubida both of which have narrower pods, and seeds with long, encircling funicles.
Type of accepted name
Near Dairy Mtn, Eidsvold, Qld, Mar. 1918, T.L.Bancroft 24 (in flower); syn: NSW; isosyn: K (ex NSW but without number); near Dairy Mtn, Eidsvold, Qld, Nov. 1918, T.L.Bancroft 24 (in fruit): syn: NSW; isosyn: BRI (ex NSW but without number).
Synonymy
Racosperma semirigidum (Maiden & Blakely) Pedley, Austrobaileya 2: 355 (1987). Type: as for accepted name.
Illustration
M.Simmons, Acacias Australia 2: 169, pl. 30 (1988).
Representative collections
Qld: Barakula State Forest, N of Chinchilla, M.E.Ballingall 2201 (PERTH); 25 km ENE of Eidsvold, L.Pedley 4015 (BRI); Goombungee, near rubbish dump, G.Ward 198 (BRI).
(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.
