Acacia halliana Maslin, Nuytsia 6: 36; 38, fig. 1 (1987)
Bushy, spreading shrub to 2.5 m high. Branchlets flattened and angled apically, soon terete and ribbed, appressed-puberulous, occasionally glabrous. New shoots densely clothed with pale yellow, appressed hairs. Stipules 2–3 mm long, brittle, often only bases persistent. Phyllodes inequilateral, narrowly oblong or narrowly elliptic, occasionally oblanceolate, straight to slightly recurved, 3–7 cm long and 4–15 mm wide, obliquely narrowed at apex to a straight, sometimes slightly pungent mucro, coriaceous, glabrous or (when young) sparsely appressed-hairy, 1-nerved per face; gland 5–12 mm above pulvinus. Inflorescences simple, commonly 2 per axil, or sometimes rudimentary, 1- or 2-headed racemes with axes to 1 mm long; peduncles 5–10 (-26) mm long, glabrous; heads globular, 6 mm diam. (dry), 35–55-flowered, golden. Flowers 5-merous; sepals free. Pods submoniliform, curved to sigmoid, occasionally twisted at constrictions, to 6 cm long, 3 mm wide, firmly chartaceous to thinly crustaceous, black. Seeds longitudinal, oblong to elliptic, 3–4 mm long, dull, dark brown; aril terminal, conical, creamy white.
Occurs in SE Australia from the Eyre Penin., S.A., E to Euston, N.S.W., and Gunbower, Vic. Grows in mallee communities in sand or light brown calcareous loam.
Formerly confounded with A. microcarpa which has insignificant stipules, obtuse, glandular phyllode apices, clavate arils and fewer-flowered heads.
A variant with atypically long peduncles (23–26 mm) and is found in the Gawler Ra., S.A. (e.g. A.E.Orchard 2314 , AD) where the typical variant also occurs, although not known to be sympatric.
A taxon of uncertain rank from W.A. resembles A. halliana in having superficially similar phyllodes and persistent, long stipules ( K.Newbey 9714 and ll815 from c. 50 km ENE of Ravensthorpe and S.D.Hopper 1961 from near Mt Ney, all PERTH); it has, however, pods that are flat, narrowly oblong and curved circinnately, enclosing smaller grey-brown seeds with a lateral aril. It may represent an undescribed infraspecific taxon of A. halliana or a new species related to it. The material at hand also resembles A. mutabilis subsp. stipulifera but it does not have the venation of that species and also differs in pod morphology.
Acacia halliana is closely related to A. simmonsiana . It is also allied to A. merrallii which has thicker, shorter and proportionately broader phyllodes; it also has an orange or bright yellow aril enclosing to 1/3 of seed. A possible hybrid between the two species occurs on Yorke Penin., S.A. (8 km from Moonta on Maitland Rd, B.Copley 4753 , AD). Also related to A. mutabilis which has similar venation but the adaxial margin has 2 nerves that coalesce above the gland; in addition, it has fewer flowers per head and terete pods, slightly or not at all constricted between the seeds.
Type of accepted name
10 km N of Bute on the road to Port Broughton, S.A., 22 Sept. 1985, B.R.Maslin 6003 ; holo: PERTH; iso: AD, CANB, G, K, MEL, NSW, NY.
Synonymy
Acacia iteaphylla var. latifolia F.Muell., J. Proc. Linn. Soc., Bot. 3: 125 (1859). Type: Poonindie [sphalm. ‘Ponindi’], S.A., C.Wilhelmi ; lecto: NSW180828, fide B.Maslin, Nuytsia 12: 353 (1999); isolecto: MEL [sphalm. ‘Ponindy’]. The paralectotype of this name is A. simmonsiana .
Illustrations
F. von Mueller, Iconogr. Austral. Acacia dec. 4 [pl. 8] (1887), upper left hand flowering twig and all fruiting specimens (as A. microcarpa ); G.M.Cunningham et al. , Pl. W New South Wales 367 (1981), as A. microcarpa ; B.R.Maslin, loc. cit. ; T.Tame, Acacias SE Australia 115, fig. 117, pl. 117 (1992); D.J.E.Whibley & D.E.Symon, Acacias S. Australia 2nd edn, 99 (1992).
Representative collections
S.A.: c. 0.8 km N of Yeelanna, M.D.Tindale 579 (NSW, PERTH). N.S.W.: 41.8 km W of Balranald on Euston road, 11 Oct. 1947, E.F.Constable s.n . (NSW). Vic.: Big Desert, 9 km S of Murrayville on Nhill road, M.G.Corrick 6385 (MEL).
(BRM)
The Fl. Australia treatment of A. halliana has been modified here for WATTLE in that "Variant 2" has been excluded and is now treated as a distinct species, A. simmonsiana .
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.
