Acacia handonis Pedley, Austrobaileya 1: 344 (1981)
Hando’s Wattle , Percy Grant Wattle
Resinous shrub to 2 m high. Branchlets finely ribbed below insertion of phyllodes; indumentum mostly of short, scattered, glandular hairs. Phyllodes crowded, sometimes subverticillate, erect, straight but slightly recurved at apex, probably subterete when fresh, depressed-triquetrous when dry, 6–18 mm long, c. 0.4 mm wide, excentrically mucronulate, with two indistinct longitudinally grooves when dry, asperulous-tuberculate; nerves not evident; gland minute, near middle of phyllode, often absent. Inflorescences simple, 1 per axil; peduncles mostly 6–10 mm long, asperulous-tuberculate; heads globular, c. 30-flowered, bright yellow, viscid. Flowers 5-merous; sepals united to about the middle. Pods narrowly oblong, to 4 cm long, 3–4 mm wide, with prominent, raised cartilaginous excrescences on valves. Seeds longitudinal, oblong, c. 4 mm long; aril clavate.
Extremely rare, known only from the Barakula area, N of Chinchilla, south-eastern Qld. Grows in lateritic soil with grey sand or glayey silt with ironstone gravel, in gently undulating country, often on stony ridges, in eucalypt woodland and open forest. Flowers mainly July- Sept.
Related to the ‘ A. johnsonii group’ but readily distinguished by the distinctive pods with prominent excrescences on their valves. This character helps relate the species to A. glutinosissima and A. rossei from W.A.; A. sedifolia (also W.A.) seems not far removed from this group even though its pods do not have prominent excrescences. Phyllodes superficially similar to those of A. brunioides subsp. granitica .
Type of accepted name
Barakula State Forest, Qld, 15 Nov. 1978, V.Hando s.n. ; holo: BRI.
Synonymy
Racosperma handonis (Pedley) Pedley, Austrobaileya 2: 349 (1987). Type: as for accepted name.
Illustrations
M.Simmons, Acacias Australia 2: 75 & pl. 14 (1988).
Representative collection
Qld: Barakula State Forest, 12 Aug. 1979, V.Hando (BRI, NSW, 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.
