Acacia ixodes Pedley, Austrobaileya 1: 256 (1980)
Motherumbung
Bushy, glabrous, somewhat resinous, shrub or small tree to 5 (- 8) m high. Branchlets slender, somewhat angular at extremities. Phyllodes usually narrowly oblong-elliptic to oblanceolate or narrowly oblanceolate, mostly straight, 2–5 cm long, usually 3–6 mm wide, l:w = 4–14, normally obtuse with a thickened, central mucro, thin, with sparsely tuberculate margins; midrib not prominent; lateral nerves obscure, subparallel to midrib; gland minute, 1–3 mm above pulvinus, also at base of mucro. Inflorescences simple, 1 per axil; peduncles, 5–12 mm long, the base ebracteate; heads showy, fragrant, globular, 20–30-flowered, bright golden. Flowers 5-merous; sepals c. 3/4-united. Pods narrowly oblong to linear, rounded over seeds, to 6 cm long, usually 5–8 mm wide, firmly chartaceous, brown. Seeds longitudinal, oblong to elliptic or ovate, narrowed at hilar end, 3–4 mm long; funicle folded below the oblique aril.
Sporadic on the western slopes and plains of N.S.W. from Dubbo to Gilgandra, Bourke, also southern and central Qld from near Westmar, E to Yarranvale and N to c. 100 km N of Jericho. According to L.Pedley, loc. cit. , it is usually common where it occurs. Grows in sand, often with Eucalyptus melanophloia and Callitris columellaris .
Specimens of M.S.Clemens , 8 Oct. 1945 (BRI), from Charleville are slightly unusual in having linear phyllodes 1.5–3 mm wide and pods 3–4 mm wide.
A member of the ‘ A. johnsonii group’ and distinguished from its closest relatives, A. eremophiloides , A. gnidium and A. hockingsii , by its phyllode proportions.
Type of accepted name
Gilgandra, N.S.W., Oct. 1904, R.H.Cambage 1132 ; holo: NSW; iso: BM n.v. ( fide L.Pedley, loc. cit. ), K—specimen ex NSW but without coll. number.
Synonymy
Acacia ixodes is based on the following: Acacia gnidium var. latifolia Maiden & Betche, Proc. Linn. Soc. New South Wales 30: 362 (1905); Racosperma ixodes (Pedley) Pedley, Austrobaileya 2: 350 (1987). Type: as for accepted name.
Illustrations
T.Tame, Acacias SE Australia 110, fig. 109, pl. 109 (1992).
Representative collections
Qld: 12.3 km S of Charleville on Cunnamulla road, M.E.Ballingall 2381 (PERTH); c. 80 km WSW of Springsure, 1 Dec. 1984, B.O’Keeffe (PERTH). N.S.W.: Dubbo, Dec. 1907, J.L.Boorman (NSW).
(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.
