Acacia havilandiorum Maiden (as ‘havilandi’), J. & Proc. Roy. Soc. New South Wales 53: 182 (1920)
Needle Wattle , Haviland’s Wattle
Bushy shrub 1.5–3 m high, occasionally tree to 4 m high. Branchlets terete, glabrous. Phyllodes inclined to ascending, straight or slightly incurved, often incurved abruptly at gland, terete or subterete, 3–8 cm long, 0.8–1.5 mm wide, pungent to innocuous, rigid, very brittle and snapping easily and cleanly, grey-green, with numerous closely parallel, fine nerves; gland in central part of phyllode. Inflorescences simple, 1–3 per axil; peduncles 4–8 mm long, glabrous; heads globular, 20–30-flowered, pale to bright golden; bracteoles obovate, oblong or quadrate. Flowers 4-merous; sepals irregularly united near base to 1/2-united. Pods linear, constricted between seeds, straight or shallowly curved, to 10 cm long, 2–3 mm wide, thin-coriaceous, glabrous. Seeds longitudinal, oblong to ovate-elliptic, 3–3.5 mm long, glossy, dark brown; aril subapical, hood-like.
Discontinuous from the Eyre Penin., S.A. to near Gilgandra, N.S.W. but found mainly in Flinders Ra., S.A. and Griffith- Cobar area of N.S.W. In Vic. known only from west of Horsham in the NW (early collections from near Ouyen (in 1912) and Gerang Gerung (in 1918) are possibly now extinct). Grows chiefly in sandy or loamy red soils in mallee and woodland communities on rocky hillsides and ridges.
The species has been known from the outset as A. havilandi or A. havilandii , published as A. havilandi to honour the collector Rev. E.Haviland as well as his son; requiring a change of termination, as discussed by N.Hall & L.A.S.Johnson, The Names of Acacias of New South Wales 43 (1993).
Often compared with A. rigens which is most readily distinguished by its hairy, ribbed branchlets and its hairy phyllodes which have fewer, yellowish nerves and which do not snap cleanly as in A. havilandiorum.
Type of accepted name
‘Wong Suey’s [Suie’s] Paddock’, Cobar, N.S.W., Sept. 1917, E.Haviland ; lecto: NSW, flowering specimen, fide R.S.Cowan & B.R.Maslin, Nuytsia 12: 461 (1999); isolecto: K, NSW, PERTH; same locality, Nov. 1917, E.Haviland ; paralecto: K, NSW, PERTH.
Illustrations
J.H.Maiden, Forest Fl. New South Wales 7: pl. 248 L–S (1921); E.R.Rotheram et al. , Fl. & Pl. New South Wales & S Queensland 137 (1975); L.F.Costermans, Native Trees & Shrubs SE Australia 322 (1981); G.M.Cunningham et al. , Pl. W New South Wales 363 (1981); T.Tame, Acacias SE Australia 90, fig. 80, pl. 80 (1992); M.Simmons, Acacias Australia 2: 117 (1988); D.J.E.Whibley & D.E.Symon, Acacias S. Australia 2nd edn, 215 (1992).
Representative collections
S.A.: Paralana, North Flinders Ra., J.Carrick 2029 (PERTH); 8 km W of Ungarra, B.Copley 3130 (PERTH). N.S.W.: 10.5 km W of Gubbata on Naradhan Rd, R.Coveny 12028 & P.Hind (AD, B, GH, K, NSW, PERTH, TL, US, Z). Vic.: between Horsham and Pimpinio on N side of an E- W road to W of the Western Hwy, Aug. 1983, K.Dobell s.n. (AD).
(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.
