Acacia elongata Sieber ex DC., Prodr. 2: 451 (1825)
Swamp Wattle , Slender Wattle
Shrub to 5 m high. Branchlets angular at apices, yellow-ribbed, appressed-puberulous. Phyllodes patent to ascending, linear, mostly incurved, 5–13 cm long, 1.5–6 mm wide, obtuse to trucate-obtuse, mucronate or curved-acute, thin-coriaceous, glabrous, with 3 raised, distant nerves and infrequent anatomoses inbetween. Inflorescences 2–4-headed racemes, sometimes appearing simple; raceme axes 1–14 mm long, appressed-puberulous; peduncles 5–16 mm long, appressed-puberulous; heads globular, 5 mm diam., 20–42-flowered, light golden. Flowers 5-merous; sepals 1/2–2/3-united. Pods linear, strongly raised over seeds, straight, to 9 cm long, 3.5–6 mm wide, thin-coriaceous, glabrous. Seeds longitudinal, broadly elliptic to oblong, 3–4 mm long, glossy, dark brown; aril apical.
Occurs from north-eastern N.S.W. near Kingscliff, S to near Eden and W to Wagga Wagga. Although there is a specimen from Vic. (i.e. ‘the Grampians’, Oct. 1981, W.D.Campbell , NSW), it is probable that this locality is an error or the specimen represents cultivated material. Grows in sandy soils in upland eucalypt woodlands, along watercourses and swamps and in heathland with various species of Melaleuca , Banksia and Leptospermum .
Maiden & Blakely’s variety dilatata has phyllodes, some of which are expanded in the apical portions and are truncate-obtuse with a central mucro; others on the same branchlets are rounded-obtuse. While the truncate form is striking, I am not convinced of its reality in nature.
Seems most closely related to A. ptychoclada . It superficially resembles A. trinervata (which has sessile, differently shaped, shorter, coarsely pungent phyllodes), A. dawsonii (which has quite different, viscid venation in the phyllodes) and A. viscidula (which has predominantly 4-merous flowers).
Type of accepted name
[N.S.W., 1823], F.W.Sieber 443 ; holo: G-DC; iso: A, G-DC, K, MO, NSW (ex BM), NY, OXF.
Synonymy
Acacia hebecephala A.Cunn. ex Loudon, Hort. Brit. 406 (1830), nom. nud.
Acacia elongata var. hebecephala Benth., London J. Bot . 1: 363 (1842). Type: Camden and Argyle Counties, N.S.W., A.Cunningham s.n .; syn: K, PERTH (Fragment ex K); Twofold Bay, K.Hgel ; syn: K, PERTH (Fragment ex K).
Acacia elongata var. typica Domin, Biblioth. Bot. 89: 260 (1926), nom. inval.
Acacia elongata var. dilatata Maiden & Blakely, J. & Proc. Roy. Soc. New South Wales 60: 191; pl. 18, fig. 8A (1927). Type: Natl Park, N.S.W., Aug. 1896, M.Bell ; holo: NSW222548; iso: NSW, PERTH (Fragment ex NSW).
Illustrations
W.J.Hooker, Bot. Mag . 3337 (1832); L.F.Costermans, Native Trees & Shrubs SE Australia 325 (1981); M.H.Simmons, Acacias Australia 205 (1981); T.Tame, Acacias SE Australia 75, fig. 60, pl. 60 (1992).
Representative collections
N.S.W.: S of Eden near intersection of Edrom Rd and track to Leatherjacket Bay, D.E.Albrecht 760 (MEL); Bogangah, 3.2 km S of Kingscliff, E.F.Constable 4844 (NSW, PERTH); Tianjara Falls, 35 km SW of Nowra, E.F.Constable 6991 (NSW, PERTH); near Kew, T.Tame 1875 (K, 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.
