Acacia shirleyi Maiden, J. & Proc. Roy. Soc. New South Wales 53: 218, pl. 15, figs 8–14 (1920)
Lancewood
Single-stemmed, umbrella-shaped tree to 15 m high, sometimes a shrub. Bark almost stringy, dark grey to black. Branchlets angular, light brown or yellowish brown, sometimes pruinose, glabrous, resinous or mealy. Phyllodes linear, straight or shallowly curved, flat, 8–19 cm long, 2–11 mm wide, coriaceous, slightly pruinose or sometimes partly brownish tinged, glabrous, with subprominent midnerve, the minor nerves 7 or 8 per mm, inconspicuous, parallel, not anastomosing; gland 1, rudimentary, basal. Spikes 1.5–5 (–6) cm long, interrupted, lemon yellow. Flowers 5-merous; calyx 0.5–0.8 mm long, dissected to 1/5–1/4, densely hirsute; corolla 1.5–1.9 mm long, dissected to 1/2, glabrous; ovary densely pubescent. Pods linear, constricted between and raised over seeds, straight to shallowly curved, 6–12 cm long, 3–5 mm wide, crustaceous and rather brittle, longitudinally wrinkled, glabrous. Seeds longitudinal, broadly elliptic, 4–5.5 mm long, black; pleurogram without halo; areole open.
Common in semi-arid and temperate areas of inland north-eastern Australia from N of Toowoomba, Qld, to Victoria R., N.T. Grows often in dense stands, also in closed forests, low open forests or mixed savannah woodlands, in shallow gravelly or skeletal sandy soils on sandstone or laterite. Flowers mostly early Mar.–late May in N.T., late Apr.–mid-July in Qld.
Although A. catenulata was included in the A. aneura (Mulga) complex by L.Pedley, Trop. Grasslands 7: 4 (1973) it is probably more closely related to A. shirleyi. See also A. distans .
Known to hybridise with Acacia rhodoxylon in Queensland. Details of ecology, utilisation etc. are given in J.W.Turnbull (ed.), Multipurpose Austral. Trees & Shrubs 194 (1986).
Type of accepted name
Mt Rose, Eidsvold, Qld, 7 Nov. 1912, T.L.Bancroft 14 ; lecto: NSW, fide P.G.Kodela, Telopea 7: 423 (1998); isolecto: BRI; paralectotypes: see P.G.Kodela, loc. cit .
Synonymy
Racosperma shirleyi (Maiden) Pedley, Austrobaileya 2: 355 (1987). Type: as for accepted name.
Acacia doratoxylon var. laxiflora Domin, Biblioth. Bot . 89: 268 (1926). Type: Mt Remarkable apud opp. Pentland, Qld, Mar. 1910, K.Domin ‘5090’ ; holo: PR n.v ., fide L.Pedley, Austrobaileya 1: 152 (1978).
[ Acacia spirorbis subsp. solandri auct. non (Benth.) Pedley: G.Bentham, Fl. Austral . 2: 406 (1864), as to Boyd R., Leichhardt specimen, fide L.Pedley, Austrobaileya 1: 156 (1978)]
Illustrations
J.H.Maiden, loc. cit .; B.R.Maslin, in J.Jessop (ed.), Fl. Centr. Australia 125, fig. 161K (1981); J.Brock, Top End Native Pl. 74 (1988); M.Simmons, Acacias Australia 2: 253 (1988).
Representative collections
N.T.: 5 miles [8 km] E No. 11 bore, Murranji S.R., 17 July 1956, G.Chippendale (NSW, NT); 2 miles [3.2] km N [of] Newcastle Waters Ck, Stuart Hwy, J.R.Maconochie 969 (NSW, NT); 4.5 km S of King R. Crossing, Stuart Hwy, M.D.Tindale 6067 & C.Dunlop (NSW, UNSW). Qld: 21.4 km from Torrens Ck to Pentland, N.Hall H83/46 (NSW); W scarp of Cory road, c. 45 miles [72 km] SW of Winton, I.V.Newman 497 (BRI, K, NSW).
(NSW)
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.
