Acacia drepanophylla Maslin, Nuytsia 4: 389; 392, fig. 5, 393, fig. 6 & 408, fig. 14 (1983)
Obconic tree 2.5- 5 m high. Bark fibrous, fissured, grey. New shoots pale citron-sericeous. Branchlets glabrous. Phyllodes widely spreading, linear, falcate, (9- ) 15- 20 cm long, 3- 6 mm wide, acuminate to delicate tip, not rigid, glabrous, finely striate with central nerve more evident than the rest. Inflorescences rudimentary 2-headed racemes with axes <0.5 mm long; peduncles 1- 3 mm long, puberulous but hairs often sparse; spikes c. 15 mm long, c. 5 mm diam., pale yellow. Flowers 4-merous; sepals free, linear-spathulate. Pods linear, flat but rounded over and slightly constricted between seeds, to 11.5 cm long, 8- 11 mm wide, firmly chartaceous to thinly coriaceous, glabrous. Seeds oblique to longitudinal, compressed-globose, 5- 6 mm diam., dull, grey-brown; funicle membranous, flat; aril small.
Restricted to the Shark Bay area from Yaringa Stn S to Wannoo, W.A. Common throughout its range and sometimes dominant. Grows in shallow red clay or loam over limestone, in Acacia scrub and shrubland.
Related to A. oldfieldii (which grows nearby) but that species is distinguished by its generally shorter, straight to shallowly incurved phyllodes, golden spikes, partly united sepals and narrower pods. Also having some affinities with A. acuminata .
Type of accepted name
25.5 km N of Overlander Roadhouse, North West Coastal Hwy, W.A., 16 June 1972, B.R.Maslin 2778 ; holo: PERTH; iso: AD, B, BRI, MO, RSA.
Illustrations
B.R.Maslin, op. cit . 392, fig. 5 and 393, fig. 6.
Representative collections
W.A.: S Yaringa Stn, W.E.Blackall 4702 (PERTH); E side of Nanga Stn, R.J.Cranfield 2592 (PERTH); near Overlander Roadhouse on North West Coastal Hwy, 2 July 1982, P.Hennig (K, MEL, NSW, PERTH); 9 km N of Billabong Roadhouse, North West Coastal Hwy, B.R.Maslin 5582 (PERTH).
(RSC)
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.
