Acacia empelioclada Maslin, Nuytsia 1: 436; 437, fig. 15 & 488, map 7 (1975)
Shrub 0.5- 2 m high. Branchlets ribbed, dark grey to black, pilose. Pinnae 1- 3 pairs, 1- 3 cm long except 2- 12 mm long on proximal pinnae of multijugate leaves; petiole 1- 2 mm long; rachis 4- 9 mm long; pinnules 3- 10 pairs except 2- 4 pairs on proximal pinnae of multijugate leaves, narrowly oblong, 4- 10 mm long, 1- 3 mm wide, flat or recurved to revolute, green, glabrous; gland on rachis at base of pinnae, sessile, absent from unijugate leaves, additional glands usually on pinna-rachis at base of uppermost 1- 4 pairs of pinnules. Inflorescences simple, 1 or 2 per axil; peduncles 10- 20 mm long, glabrous; heads globular, 25- 43-flowered, cream to pale yellow. Flowers 5-merous; sepals c. 5/6-united; petals 1-nerved. Pods 1.5- 5 cm long, 6- 9 mm wide, pilose to glabrous. Seeds transverse, c. 3 mm long.
Near coastal areas, occurring at Cape Riche and Fitzgerald R. Natl Park, south-western W.A. Grows on rocky hills in Mallee heath, also in sand or sandy laterite and in clay soil along watercourses in mixed scrub.
A member of the ‘ A. browniana group’. Specimens from Cape Riche have multijugate leaves with flat pinnules and sometimes eglandulose pinna-rachae. These plants resemble A. leioderma but are distinguished by their pilose branchlets. Elsewhere the leaves are unijugate or multijugate, the pinnules are recurved (revolute upon drying) and the pinna-rachae are gland-bearing. These plants are distinguished from A. lateriticola by their generally larger leaves with gland-bearing pinna-rachae and glabrous pinnules. See also A. nigricans .
Type of accepted name
About 1.5 km due NW of Mt Bland, W.A., 30 Aug. 1973, B.R.Maslin 3484 ; holo: PERTH; iso: B, BRI, CANB, K, MEL, NSW, NY, PERTH.
Synonymy
Acacia obscura var. moiriana E.Pritz., Bot. Jahrb. Syst. 35: 312 (1904). Type: Mt Melville, near Cape Riche, W.A., 18 July 1901, L.Diels 3498 ; iso: PERTH (Fragment ex B).
[ Acacia obscura auct. non A.DC.: G.Bentham, Fl. Austral. 2: 418 (1864) p.p. , as to W.Baxter s.n. (K) & J.Drummond 5: 17 (K, MEL, OXF, P, PERTH); C.F.Meissner, in J.G.C.Lehmann, Pl. Preiss. 1: 20 (1844) p.p. , as to Konkeberup Hills [Mt Melville near Cape Riche], L.Preiss 889 (LUND)]
Illustrations
B.R.Maslin, loc. cit .
Representative collections
W.A.: Mt Melville, B.R.Maslin 1062 (AD, K, MEL, NSW, PERTH); Thumb Peak, Fitzgerald R. Natl Park, K.Newbey 3421 (CANB, PERTH).
(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.
