Wattle words

When finding out about wattles, there are a few important things to get to know.

First of all, the true leaves of all acacias are feathery. By growing wattle seeds (see: Wattle you know wattle you do below) you will discover how all wattle leaves begin this way. These 'true' wattle leaves are known as pinnate leaves. Most Australian wattles lose these true leaves as they grow, and develop instead the leaf-like organ called a phyllode. It looks and functions very much like an ordinary leaf. These phyllodes usually have one to many veins,called nerves, visible on their surface (often you will need a magnifying glass to see them, except on large phyllodes).

Acacia dealbata (Silver Wattle) has bipinnate leaves, whereas Acacia howittii (Sticky Wattle) has phyllodes with several nerves. Thus in the Silver Wattle, we say true leaves persist, but in the Sticky Wattle these true leaves are lost and the leaf stalk develops as a leaf like structure, the phyllode Most Australian acacias have phyllodes, while acacias from outside Australia have bipinnate leaves. No one really knows why this is so - but it gets the botanists talking!

Here are some words commonly used to describe the various parts of Wattles:

pinnate

when a leaf has a single stalk with rows of little leaflets on either side of it (= pinnae); the first seedling leaves of many Wattles are pinnate

bipinnate

when a single leaf has one or more pairs of pinnae arranged along a stalk; all wattle seedlings have bipinnate leaves

petiole

the stalk of a leaf

phyllode

a flattened petiole that many wattles use a leaf-like structure

nerves

long veins that are visible on the phyllode

glands

circular pimples with holes in their centre that are found on phyllodes or stalks of bipinnate leaves and which secrete a sweet nectar; glands in Wattles are sometimes called extra-floral nectaries

flower

the individual flowers of a wattles are very small, they are clustered into globular heads or rod-shaped spikes

globular

some wattle flower heads are ball shaped

spicate

some wattle flower heads are rod-shaped

raceme

a branched stalk or many flower heads or spikes

peduncle

the stalk that supports the flower heads or spikes or Wattles, it may be long or short

testa

the hard coat of a seed, in Wattles the testa is usually black or brown and it can be dull or shiny

aril

an oily fleshy outgrowth of the funicle that ants and often birds relish

funicle

the often thread-like attachment of the seed in the pod

pod

dry fruit of legumes; wattles are in the legume family Fabales

stipule

a small appendage at the base of the leaf or phyllode; in many acacias, especially those found outside Australia, the stipule is often a spine