Acacia steedmanii Maiden & Blakely (as ‘Steedmani’), J. & Proc. Roy. Soc. W. Australia 13: 16; pl. 12, figs 8–14 (1928)
Moderately open, glabrous shrub or tree to 4 m high. Branches and branchlets pruinose. Phyllodes narrowly oblong-elliptic to oblanceolate, commonly 5–10 cm long and 1–2 cm wide, narrowed to 4–6 mm long pulvinus, obtuse, coriaceous, green to subglaucous, glabrous; midrib prominent; lateral nerves indistinct, occasionally anastamosing; glands commonly 3 or 4, lowermost near base. Inflorescences racemose, rarely in panicles; raceme axes frequently 2.5–5 cm long, sometimes to 12 cm, sometimes pruinose; peduncles 4–6 mm long; heads globular, 30–40-flowered, golden. Flowers 5-merous; sepals c. 2/3-united. Pods straight, to 7 cm long, 5–6 mm wide, firmly chartaceous. Seeds longitudinal to slightly oblique, oblong to elliptic, 3.5–4 mm long; funicle filiform, 2/3 encircling seed in a single fold, yellowish.
Occurs from Pigeon Rocks S to Bruce Rock and E to Bulla Bulling (30 km W of Coolgardie), with an outlier near Forrestonia (c. 20 km SW of Coolgardie), W.A. Grows in sand, sandy loam, loam, rocky loam and gravelly clay, frequently on or near granite rocks but also on lateritic gravelly rises and sand-plains, in eucalypt mallee, tall heath and low scrub.
A species of the ‘ A. microbotrya group’ with close affinity to the Arid Zone species, A. validinervia , which has phyllodes with 1 or 2 glands and often somewhat prominent lateral nerves, thicker and generally shorter peduncles, many more flowers per head and larger seeds. The entity described by B.R.Maslin, in J.Jessop (ed.), Fl. Central Australia 132 (1981), as A. steedmanii is now regarded as a variant of A. validinervia . Acacia steedmanii sometimes superficially resembles A. brumalis (oblanceolate phyllode variant) .
Type of accepted name
near Southern Cross, W.A., Aug. 1922, H.Steedman s.n. ; holo: NSW; iso: K.
Illustration
J.H.Maiden & W.F.Blakely, loc. cit .
Representative collections
W.A.: 7 km W of Moorine Rock on Great Eastern Hwy, B.R.Maslin 4475 (PERTH); New Morning, Forrestonia, A.O’Connor 422 (PERTH); summit of Mt Jackson which is N of Southern Cross, R.A.Saffrey 960 (MEL, NY, 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.
