Acacia anthochaera Maslin, Nuytsia 10: 183 (1995)
Kimberly’s Wattle
Dense, commonly rounded, multistemmed, glabrous shrub or tree 2- 5 m high, sometimes 7 m. Bark grey, fissured on trunks and main branches. Branchlets angled or flattened at extremities; cuticle often white. Phyllodes mostly ascending to erect, narrowly linear, straight to shallowly incurved, 9–15 cm long, 2–5 mm wide, acute, often shallowly recurved at apex, thin, flexible, green or subglaucous, 1-nerved; lateral nerves obscure or absent. Inflorescences 4–9-headed racemes, enclosed when young by imbricate bracts; raceme axes 7–15 mm long; peduncles 7–12 mm long, slender; heads prolific, globular, 25–35-flowered, bright light golden, fragrant; bracteoles absent. Flowers 5-merous; sepals free. Pods narrowly oblong, to 8.5 cm long, 5–8 mm wide, chartaceous, light brown. Seeds longitudinal, oblong to elliptic or ovate, 4–5 mm long, dull, dark brown to blackish, yellowish at centre, exarillate.
Occurs from near Yuna (which is c. 35 km due E of Northampton) SE to Cowcowing (c. 20 km due NNE of Wyalkatchem), also near Galena (which is c. 35 km due NW of Yuna) and Karroun Hill (c. 75 km due NW of Cowcowing), south-western W.A. Grows in flat, low-lying areas, in red-brown sand or loam, in woodland or shrubland.
A member of the ‘ A. prainii group’ and until recently was regarded as a long phyllode variant of A. hemiteles , a species distinguished by its shorter stature, smooth bark, and shorter, broader, sometimes coarsely pungent phyllodes. A few herbarium specimens from the zone of geographical overlap of the two species, i.e. between Beacon (c. 55 km due NE of Koorda) and Morawa, suggest that hybrids may occur (e.g. about 15 km NW of Kalannie, B.R.Maslin 3977 , PERTH).
In phyllodes and sometimes in habit A. anthochaera may resemble A. aestivalis which has light golden, appressed-puberulous raceme axes, united sepals and seeds with a long, red-brown funicle and a thick aril.
Type of accepted name
104.5 km S of Paynes Find on Great Northern Hwy, W.A., 3 Sept. 1984, B.R.Maslin 5584; holo: PERTH; iso (distributed as A. hemiteles , long phyllode variant): AD, CANB, G, K, MEL, NSW, NY.
Representative collections
W.A.: W of Kalannie (intersection of Warren and Dalwallinu North roads), G.Craig 1614 (MEL, PERTH); 24 km N of Murchison R. on North West Coastal Hwy, B.R.Maslin 3149 (PERTH); 7.5 km from Morawa towards Three Springs, B.R.Maslin 4270 (CANB, MO, NT, PERTH); 5 km E of Karroun Hill, P.Roberts 223 (PERTH); Cowcowing, F.Stoward 3120 (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.
