Acacia tetraneura Maslin & A.R.Chapm., Nuytsia 12: 483 (1999)
Spreading, flat-topped shrub 0.3– 0.4 m high. Branchlets glabrous or sparsely appressed-puberulous at extremities, resinous. Phyllodes erect, terete or flat, linear to narrowly oblong (when flat), mostly shallowly incurved, (2– ) 3–7 cm long, 1.5– 3 mm wide, mucronate, rigid, glabrous except pulvinus normally appressed-puberulous, with 4 prominent, flat-topped, broad, resinous nerves, the central nerve prominently raised when phyllodes flat, deeply furrowed between nerves when terete, the internerve spaces glaucous. Inflorescences simple, mostly 2 per axil; heads subsessile, globular to shortly obloid, 5 mm diam., 13– 20-flowered, light golden; bracteoles exserted in buds, acuminate, dark brown to blackish. Flowers 4-merous; sepals 1/2– 2/3-united. Pods linear, shallowly constricted between seeds, straight to twisted, to 5 cm long, 2–3 mm wide, coriaceous-crustaceous, glabrous; margins broad. Seeds (few seen) longitudinal, obloid, turgid, 2–2.5 mm long, greyish brown, obscurely mottled; aril terminal.
A rare species, known only from a few specimens from the Bruce Rock area and SE of Hyden, south-western W.A. Grows on low hills in shallow loam over laterite and in rocky (granitic) clay in low heath.
Most closely related to A. lirellata which has phyllodes with more numerous nerves and moniliform or submoniliform pods; also related to A. cochlocarpa which differs by having phyllodes usually with more numerous nerves and coiled pods. The phyllode nerves, but not the phyllode form, are remarkably similar to those of A. sciophanes (sect. Plurinerves ), which is a wispy shrub with pendulous branchlets and pedunculate heads of 5-merous flowers.
Type of accepted name
SE of Hyden [precise locality withheld for conservation reasons], W.A., 22 July 1989, B.R.Maslin 6372 ; holo: PERTH; iso: AD, BRI, CANB, G, K, MEL, NSW, NY, Z.
Representative collection
W.A.: Bruce Rock area, B.R.Maslin 1801 (CANB, K, MEL, PERTH).
(ARC & 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.
