Acacia howittii F.Muell. (as ‘Howitti’), Victorian Naturalist 10: 16 (1893)
Howitt’s Wattle , Sticky Wattle
Graceful shrub or tree usually 3–9 m high. Branchlets pendulous, slender; ribs pubescent; interstices glabrous, slightly resinous. Phyllodes narrowly elliptic to lanceolate, usually 15–25 mm long, 4–8 mm wide, acute to acuminate, thin, dark green, glabrous except margins and sometimes main nerves appressed-puberulous, resinous-punctate, often viscid especially when young, with 2 or 3 distant, main nerves per face and few, obscure, longitudinally anastomosing lateral nerves. Inflorescences simple, 1 or 2 per axil; peduncles 3–10 mm long, puberulous; basal bract persistent; heads globular, 12–20-flowered, pale lemon yellow. Flowers 5-merous; sepals united. Pods narrowly oblong to linear, to 6 cm long, 4–5 mm wide, firmly chartaceous to thinly coriaceous, brown, glabrous except margins hairy. Seeds longitudinal, oblong, 3.5–4 mm long, somewhat shiny, dark brown; aril terminal.
Confined to eastern Vic. from the upper Macalister R. area near Mt Howitt S to near Yarram and E to near Tabberabbera; collections from near Daylesford and Melbourne are presumably of cultivated origin. Grows in moist forest.
A member of the A. verniciflua complex. Putative hybrids occur between A. howittii and A. leprosa (Dandenong variant) at Ringwood, Vic. The species is widely planted as an ornamental, especially for its pendulous foliage and profuse, perfumed flower-heads. Phyllodes are sometimes to 3.5 cm long in cultivation. A dwarf form, Canberry Honey Bun, was recently introduced into cultivation, fide Anonymous, Greenworld 12 (4): 34 (1993)
Type of accepted name
Bodman’s Ck at Yarram Yarram, Vic., A.W.Howitt ; syn: MEL; Glen Falloch, Vic., A.W.Howitt ; syn: MEL.
Illustrations
W.B.Turrill, Bot. Mag. n.s. 171: t. 271 (1956); G.R.Cochrane et al. , Fl. Pl. Victoria 134 (1968); L.F.Costermans, Native Trees & Shrubs SE Australia 325 (1981); M.Simmons, Acacias Australia 2: 127 (1988); T.Tame, Acacias SE Australia 79, fig. 66, pl. 66 (1992).
Representative collections
Vic.: 14.5 km SW of Yarram P.O., A.C.Beauglehole 62371 (MEL); Stony Ck, near Mt Howitt, W.Cane , Sept. 1973 (MEL); Gidney’s Track, 8 km from the Wentworth R. near Tabberabbera, 16 Sept. 1977, K.C.Rogers (MEL).
(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.
