Acacia beadleana R.Jones & J.Bruhl (ms)
Shrub 0.4–2 m tall. Branchlets terete, moderately to densely hairy and roughened with old phyllode bases. Phyllodes inclined to patent, crowded; linear-oblanceolate, thick, compressed to terete (when fresh), becoming flat upon drying, shallowly to moderately recurved, with sparse to dense spreading hairs particularly on the lower margin, minutely scabrous, 8–10(–12) mm long, 0.6–1.5 mm wide, apices curved-mucronate to acuminate, nerves superficially absent; gland small, basal. Inflorescences simple, 1 per axil; peduncles 8–13 mm long, slender, hairy, the base ebracteate; heads globular, large, 25–50-flowered, bright yellow to golden. Flowers 5-merous; sepals united, lobes obtuse-triangular and hairy; petals sparsely hairy. Pods oblong, 35–50 mm long, 8–12 mm wide, coriaceous, dark brown and glabrous. Seeds transverse, c. 4 mm long, funicle short and arillate.
A rare species confined to the Gibraltar Ra. in northern N.S.W. Grows in heath and open woodland in coarse granitic sand on the lower slopes of granitic ridges and tor outcrops. Flowers Jan. – Feb.
Allied to A. brunioides subsp. granitica and A. conferta , however, A. beadleana is recognized by a its often larger, more-flowered heads. It is further distinguished from A. brunioides subsp. granitica by its variably hairy, often slightly shorter and wider phyllodes and narrower pods and from A. conferta by its more spreading, recurved and narrower, terete to compressed phyllodes and hairy lower margin (phyllodes flat and glabrous or with scattered hairs in A. conferta ).
Representative collections
N.S.W.: Gibraltar Ra. (precise locality withheld for conservation reasons), 10 Sep 1988, J.B. Williams s.n. (NE, NSW) and T.Tame 41 (NE, NSW), 4982 (NSW), 4991 (NSW) & 5012 (NSW).
(TT)
This species was not included in the Fl. Australia treatment of Acacia .
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.
