Acacia debilis Tindale, Telopea 1: 382; 383, pl. 13 (1978)
Spindly shrub or tree to 6 m high, with reddish branches. Bark smooth, greyish green or reddish green. Branchlets inconspicuously ridged or smooth, glabrous. Leaves coriaceous, greyish green; petiole above pulvinus usually 0.8–4 cm long, terete, glabrous, with a prominent linear or oblong gland 1/3–2/3 below basal pinnae, also sometimes an apical gland if there is only 1 pair of pinnae; rachis to 8 cm long, glabrous, eglandular or with a round, oblong or triangular jugary gland at base of uppermost and sometimes other pairs of pinnae, interjugary glands absent; pinnae 1–4 pairs, 3–9.5 cm long; pinnules 5–17 (–23) pairs, mostly narrowly oblong, sometimes oblanceolate, 6–18 mm long, 2–6 mm wide, glabrous, 3-veined, apex broadly rounded or emarginate. Inflorescences in racemes or mostly false-panicles. Heads 3.5–7 mm diam., 15–33-flowered, golden or yellow; calyx-lobes triangular to rounded-triangular. Pods straight-sided or irregularly and mostly only slightly constricted between seeds, 5.5–13.5 cm long, 9–13 mm wide, subcoriaceous, blue-black, brownish towards margins, slightly pruinose, glabrous.
Extends from Taroom, south-eastern Qld, S and W in N.S.W. to Pilliga East State Forest, E to Tenterfield. Grows in sandy soils, in open forest or shrub-woodland, often along watercourses. Flowers July–Sept.; fruits Nov.–Mar.
In the past this species had been confounded with A. pruinosa .
Type of accepted name
Wambo Ck, 17.2 km SW of Kogan, Qld, 28 Aug. 1975, R.G.Coveny 6789 & P.Hind ; holo: NSW; iso: AD, B, BRI, CANB, K, L, MEL, TNS, UC, US.
Synonymy
Racosperma debile (Tindale) Pedley, Austrobaileya 2: 347 (1987). Type: as for accepted name.
Illustrations
M.D.Tindale, loc. cit. ; D.A.Morrison & S.J.Davies, in G.J.Harden (ed.), Fl. New South Wales 2: 384 (1991); T.Tame, Acacias SE Australia 173, fig. 196; pl.196 (1992).
Representative collections
Qld: 13.8 km N of Tara, R.G.Coveny 6797 & P.Hind (A, BM, NE, NSW, P, RSA, TL, Z); 12 km NE of Chinchilla, 12 Aug. 1983, V.Hando. s.n. (NSW). N.S.W.: 1 km S of Tenterfield, G.J.Harden 81022 (AD, CHR, K, NSW, US); Pilliga East State Forest, D.F.Mackay FR79995 (NSW); Tenterfield, M.D.Tindale 728 (NSW).
(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.
