Acacia burbidgeae Pedley, Austrobaileya 1: 249 (1980)
Burbidge’s Wattle
Shrub to c. 2 (- 4) m high. Branchlets sparsely to moderately puberulous to hirsutellous, slightly resinous. Phyllodes frequently subcrowded, sometimes subverticillate, usually patent to ascending, slender, shallowly incurved, sometimes straight, usually subterete but drying triquetrous in section or flat and with a discernible longitudinal groove on each face, 15–40 mm long, 0.6–1 mm wide, the lower margin broader than the upper, obliquely and excentrically mucronulate or rostellate, glabrous; gland basal, minute, obscure or absent. Inflorescences simple, 1 per node; peduncles 5–10 mm long, glabrous to sparsely puberulous, the base ebracteate; heads globular, 20–30-flowered, golden, slightly resinous. Flowers 5-merous; sepals c. 1/2–2/3-united. Pods linear, to 6.5 cm long, c. 3 mm wide (4.5 mm in N.S.W.), firmly chartaceous, brown, glabrous, slightly resinous. Seeds longitudinal, oblong, 3.5–4 mm long; aril oblique.
Disjunct, occurring in south-eastern Qld between Cunnamulla and St George, the Chinchilla area and near Rolleston; also in north-eastern N.S.W. near Emmaville. Grows in sand in open woodland, sometimes forming almost pure stands.
A distinctive variant with terete, subuncinate, erect, crowded phyllodes occurs in the extreme NW section of the Barakula Forest (e.g. V.Hando 13 , PERTH). Locally it is called Waaje Wattle . This variant has been published as a new species, A. barakulensis , by L.Pedley, Austrobaileya 5: 308 (1999). Acacia barakulensis is included in WATTLE where it is keyed and described separately.
Acacia burbidgeae is a member of the ‘ A. johnsonii group’ where it is most closely allied to A. johnsonii , A. pilligaensis and A. islana . It resembles A. gittinsii and narrow phyllode forms of A. wilhelmiana .
Type of accepted name
15 miles [24 km] W of St George on Bollon Road, Qld, 5 Sept. 1956, N.T.Burbidge 5478 ; holo: BRI.
Synonymy
Racosperma burbidgeae (Pedley) Pedley, Austrobaileya 2: 346 (1987). Type: as for accepted name.
Illustrations
L.Pedley, Austrobaileya 1: 232, fig. 8J (1978), phyllode only; T.Tame, Acacias SE Australia 119, fig. 122, pl. 122 (1992).
Representative collections
Qld: Burncluith- Stockyard road, Barakula Forest, V.Hando 4 (PERTH); ‘Rockwood’ c. 32 km SW of Chinchilla, L.Pedley 3013 (BRI, NSW). N.S.W.: Gilbruth Plains, C.H.Gittins 1217 (CANB, NSW); Carpet Snake Ck, c. 18 km NW of Torrington, J.B.Williams (BRI, NE, NSW, 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.
