Acacia tysonii Luehm. (as ‘Tysoni’), Victorian Naturalist 13: 112 (1896)
Tyson’s Wattle
Compact, rounded shrub to 3 m high, or tree to 6 m. Branchlets normally appressed-puberulous. New shoots pale yellow (at least when dry), ageing silvery due to indumentum. Phyllodes narrowly elliptic to narrowly oblong, 2–4.5 cm long, 4–10 mm wide, l:w = 4–7, obtuse, thin, smooth, grey-green to glaucous, finely appressed-puberulous, 1-nerved; midrib and marginal nerves prominent; lateral nerves often obscure; gland 1–5 mm above pulvinus, rarely also at base of mucro. Inflorescences 2–4-headed racemes; raceme axes 5–20 mm long, puberulous, growing out or often the distal peduncles subtended by young phyllodes; peduncles 10–25 (–30) mm long, puberulous; heads globular, subdense, 25–30-flowered, bright golden. Flowers 5-merous; sepals united into a truncate calyx. Pods moniliform, 5–10 cm long, 8–13 mm wide, crustaceous, smooth, red to dark brown, sparsely and minutely appressed-puberulous. Seeds longitudinal, spherical, compressed, 7–8 mm long, dull, brown; aril hemispherical, dark red (dry).
Occurs from Gascoyne Junction and Peak Hill S to Morawa and Mouroubra, W.A. Possibly also from L. Auld on the edge of the Great Sandy Desert (see below). Grows in sand, loam and clay, usually associated with calcrete or limestone in shrubland.
A member of the ‘ A. bivenosa group’, fide A.R.Chapman & B.R.Maslin, Nuytsia 8: 279 (1992). It resembles A. sclerosperma subsp. glaucescens which has a more coastal distribution and which differs in its indumentum, gland number, inflorescences and size of pods and seeds. Specimens with longer and thicker than normal phyllodes from around Glenburgh and Meka Stns, W.A., may be hybrids with A. ligulata .
A sterile specimen from Lake Auld ( A.S.Mitchell 1070 , DNA, PERTH) is possibly this species. Besides being distributionally anomalous it is distinctive in its small (20–25 x 4–5 mm), acute phyllodes with 2–4, rather prominent marginal glands.
Type of accepted name
Mt Narryer, Murchison R., W.A., I.Tyson ; holo: MEL; iso: E, K, NSW, PERTH.
Illustration
A.R.Chapman & B.R.Maslin, Nuytsia 8: 271, fig. 5B (1992).
Representative collections
W.A.: W of Mt Magnet, A.M.Ashby 5227 (BRI, MEL, NSW, PERTH); Ninghan Stn, between Wubin and Paynes Find, B.R.Maslin 4237 (CANB, 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.
