Acacia cracentis R.S.Cowan & Maslin, Nuytsia 12: 476 (1999)
Bushy, rounded or obconical shrub 0.5- 2 m high. Branchlets sericeous between resin-ribs at extremities. Phyllodes patent to ascending, straight to very shallowly incurved, terete, 2.5- 6 cm long, 0.5- 0.7 mm diam., slender, green, glabrous or sparsely appressed-hairy in shallow, narrow furrows between the nerves, resinous (at least when young), with 8 broad, flat-topped nerves which are not or scarcely raised. Inflorescences simple, mostly solitary; heads sessile, globular to subglobular, 4.5- 6 mm diam., 12- 20-flowered, golden. Flowers 4-merous; sepals 3/4-united. Pods erect, linear, slightly raised over and slightly constricted between seeds, straight to shallowly curved, to 5 cm long, 1- 2 mm wide, thinly coriaceous, minutely appressed-puberulous on lateral faces, resinous; margins wide. Seeds longitudinal, elliptic, 2- 2.5 mm long, glossy, mottled; aril terminal, bluntly conical, nearly as long as seed, white.
Discontinuous, occurring in the Chiddarcooping Nature Reserve and 200 km S near Hyden, south-western W.A. Grows commonly in association with granite, on or near outcrops, in Melaleuca shrubland with Eucalyptus stowardii and Casuarina spp., also in gravelly loam in low heath.
Most closely related to A. arcuatilis . Also close to A. tratmaniana which has quadrangular, commonly longer phyllodes. The short phyllode variant of A. tratmaniana , however, could be confused with A. cracentis and a careful inspection of the phyllode nerves (4 in A. tratmaniana ) and shape in cross-section is needed to confidently distinguish them.
Type of accepted name
Chiddarcooping Nature Reserve, Morrison Rd, 9 km E of Echo Rd, W.A., 23 July 1989, B.R.Maslin 6383 ; holo: PERTH; iso: CANB, K.
Representative collections
W.A: Lake Hurlstone Nature Reserve, 9 km NW of Holt Rock on road to Hyden, B.R.Maslin 6485 (CANB, K, PERTH); central W side of Chiddarcooping Hill Reserve, A.S.Weston 14388 (MEL, PERTH).
(RSC & 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.
