Acacia sibina Maslin, Nuytsia 2: 155; 156, fig. 5 & 160, fig. 7 (1977)
Shrub 1– 3 m high. Branchlets glabrous except tomentulose in phyllode axils. Phyllodes erect, straight to slightly curved, terete, 6– 22 cm long, 1– 2 mm diam., pungent, rigid, green to subglaucous, glabrous, indistinctly striate; pulvinus subsmooth, orange, slightly flared basally. Inflorescences simple, 2 per axil; peduncles 1.5– 4 mm long, puberulous; spikes 7– 26 mm long, to 7 mm diam., moderately densely flowered, golden. Flowers 5-merous; sepals 3/4– 5/6-united, with broadly triangular lobes. Pods linear, raised over and constricted between seeds, to 12 cm long, 4– 6 mm wide, firmly chartaceous, glabrous. Seeds longitudinal, elliptic, 3.5– 4 mm long, glossy, dark brown, paler around areole; aril yellow.
Occurs from Mullewa SE to near Wubin, also widely scattered eastwards to Warburton and near Queen Victoria Spring, central W.A. Grows mostly on plains in sand, gravelly sand and loam, in heath, Acacia scrub and shrubland and low woodland.
Acacia stereophylla has a similarly smooth, flared pulvinus but differs most obviously from A. sibina by its non-pungent phyllodes which are commonly flat (terete to subterete phyllode forms, described as A. stereophylla var. cylindrata , are rare). Seemingly related to A. intorta and superficially similar to A. cylindrica and A. aciphylla .
Type of accepted name
Mount Gibson Stn, between Wubin and Paynes Find, W.A., 29 Aug. 1976, B.R.Maslin 4230 ; holo: PERTH; iso: CANB, K, MEL, NY.
[ Acacia cyperophylla auct. non F.Muell.: J.H.Maiden, Forest Fl. New South Wales 6: 277 (1917)]
Illustrations
B.R.Maslin, op. cit. 156, fig. 5.
Representative collections
W.A.: Wilroy townsite, G.Phillips for A.M.Ashby 4864 (CANB, K, NY, PERTH); 33.8 km NE of Laverton, A.S.George 8092 (PERTH); 21.5 km N of Perenjori towards Morawa, B.R.Maslin 5070 (MEL, PERTH); Gibson Desert , B.R.Maslin 5671 (MO, PERTH); N of Queen Victoria Spring Nature Reserve, A.S.Weston 14770A (PERTH).
(RSC)
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.
