Acacia kimberleyensis W.Fitzg., in J.H.Maiden, J. & Proc. Roy. Soc. New South Wales 51: 112 (1917)
Glabrous shrub 1–1.5 m high. Branchlets slender, subangular, finely ribbed, resinous at least when young. Phyllodes narrowly linear, flat or quadrangular, 8–16 cm long, 0.8–1.8 mm wide, not rigid, with 3–7 subdistant, somewhat raised nerves per face when flat, the central nerve slightly more pronounced. Inflorescences simple, mostly 2 per axil; peduncles 5–10 mm long; spikes 2–3 cm long, narrow. Flowers 5-merous; sepals free, linear-spathulate. Pods narrowly linear, 7–10 cm long, c. 2 mm wide, thinly crustaceous, finely longitudinally nerved, dehiscing elastically from apex ( fide protologue); margins very narrowly winged, the wing c. 1 mm wide. Seeds ( fide protologue) longitudinally oblique, narrowly oblong, c. 6 mm long, shiny, greenish black; funicle/aril conical, equalling seed length.
Known from only two localities in the western part of the Kimberley region, W.A., namely, Packhorse Ra. (type locality) and Mt Agnes, c. 80 km to the N. Judging from W.V.Fitzgerald’s unpublished diary the type was collected in an area dominated by Eucalyptus miniata woodland over Spinifex and the rocks were sandstone veined with quartzite.
The Gardner collection from near Mt Agnes is in flower and differs from the type in having very slender, almost quadrangular phyllodes c. 0.8 mm wide (phyllodes flat and 1.5–1.8 mm wide on the type). Pods are needed to confirm that this collection has been correctly placed in A. kimberleyensis . Gardner’s specimens superficially resemble A. filamentosa which is distinguished by its generally longer, terete phyllodes with very obscure nerves, and united sepals. It is also very similar to A. filipes which differs in its longer peduncles and terete, obscurely ribbed branchlets.
The (narrowly) winged pods, narrow spikes and free sepals indicate that A. kimberleyensis is related to A. conjunctifolia , A. gonocarpa , A. lentiginea , A. richardsii and A. tenuispica , but easily distinguished by its long, narrow phyllodes. Acacia filamentosa has similarly long phyllodes.
Type of accepted name
Packhorse Ra., W.A., July 1905, W.V.Fitzgerald 1222 ; lecto: PERTH, fide B.R.Maslin & R.S.Cowan, Nuytsia 9: 397 (1994); isolecto: BM, NSW.
Representative collection
W.A.: near Mt Agnes, C.A.Gardner 1432 (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.
