Acacia chinchillensis Tindale, Telopea 1: 380 (1978)
Multistemmed, glaucous shrub 0.3–2 m high. Bark smooth, grey-brown, greenish brown or yellow-brown. Branchlets terete, pilose with soft white hairs; ridges inconspicuous. Young foliage-tips greenish white, pilose. Leaves herbaceous or subcoriaceous, silvery glaucous; petiole 0.1–0.6 cm long, terete, shortly pilose, mostly with a raised, glabrous or pilose, orbicular gland c. 0.1–0.3 mm diam. at base of or just below lowest pair of pinnae; rachis (0.2–) 0.5–1.5 (–2.3) cm long, shortly pilose, occasionally with a similar gland at base of apical pair of pinnae, interjugary glands absent; pinnae 2–4 pairs, (0.5–) 0.8–1.5 (- 2) cm long; pinnules 5–11 pairs, narrowly oblanceolate or oblanceolate, sometimes cultrate, 2–7 mm long, 0.5–1 mm wide, with often slightly recurved margins, glabrous or very sparsely pilose towards apex and on margins, midvein obscure, almost central, apex acute, bluntly apiculate or broadly rounded. Inflorescences in axillary racemes or mainly terminal false-panicles. Heads 11–22-flowered, golden or yellow. Pods often curved, 4–10 cm long, 4–7 mm wide, thinly coriaceous, brownish black, blue-pruinose, villous or pilose.
Occurs in south-eastern Qld N of Chinchilla and near Tara. Grows in ironbark eucalypt ( Eucalyptus melanophloia etc.)- Callitris columellaris - Casuarina woodland, in sandy or gravelly soils. Flowers July- Sept.
Closely allied to Acacia polybotrya but differing in fewer flowers per head, pinnae smaller and narrower (5–10 mm wide), pinnules smaller, non-sulcate, with midvein obscure and basal lateral veins absent, calyces shorter being 1/3 length of corollas instead of 1/2, and lobes of calyces triangular, dissected to 1/5 of length of tube. A. chinchillensis is restricted to Qld where it has a more northerly distribution than A. polybotrya and occurs in drier country. The latter species extends from the Darling Downs District, Qld to North Western Plains, N.S.W. (especially Pilliga Scrub) and North and Central Western Slopes.
Type of accepted name
Chinchilla–Auburn road, 36.7 km (22.8 miles) N of Chinchilla, Darling Downs District, Qld, 29 Aug. 1975, R.Coveny 6813 & P.Hind ; holo: NSW; iso: A, AD, B, BRI, CANB, G, K, L, LE, MEL, MO, NU, P, RSA, TL, UC, US, Z.
Synonymy
Racosperma chinchillense (Tindale) Pedley, Austrobaileya 2: 346 (1987).
Illustration
M.Simmons, Acacias Australia 2: 297 (1988).
Representative collections
Qld: Darling Downs District: Auburn- Chinchilla road, 40.7 km N of Chinchilla, R.Coveny 6818 & P.Hind (A, BRI, CANB, K, MEL, NSW, PERTH, UC, US); c. 20 km NE of Tara, N.Hall H77/123 (FRI, NSW, PERTH).
(MDT & PGK)
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.
