Acacia lanigera A.Cunn., in B.Field, Geogr. Mem. New South Wales 345 (1825)
Woolly Wattle, Hairy Wattle
Rigid shrub 1–2 m high. Branchlets with straight to crisped and patent to appressed hairs, with resin hairs absent or few. Phyllodes narrowly elliptic, linear-elliptic or linear-oblanceolate, straight to shallowly recurved, usually 3–5.5 cm long and 3–7 mm wide, acute to obtuse, sometimes shortly acuminate, pungent to innocuous, coriaceous, somewhat villous when young, commonly glabrescent, with 3 or 4 main nerves, the minor nerves inbetween anastomosing or not; gland 0–13 mm above pulvinus. Inflorescences simple, (1- ) 2 (- 4) per node; peduncles 2–9 mm long, hairy to glabrous; basal bract persistent; heads globular to obloid, 4.5–6.5 mm diam., 5–7 mm long, 20–30-flowered, golden; bracteoles sessile to subsessile, obovate, acute to acuminate. Flowers 5-merous; sepals 2/3–3/4-united. Pods linear, curved to openly once-coiled, to 10 cm long, 4–6 mm wide, coriaceous, villous-tomentose. Seeds longitudinal, oblong to broadly elliptic, 4.5–5 mm long, dull, dark brown, verruculose; aril apical.
Distributed from the Coonabarabran region of N.S.W. (including A.C.T.) to Gippsland W to central Vic.
Acacia lanigera is closely related to A. venulosa , see R.S.Cowan & B.R.Maslin, Nuytsia 10: 65–66 (1995), for discussion. It is more uncertainly related to A. oswaldii . The species comprises three varieties.
Key
1 Peduncles 6- 9 mm long; phyllodes narrowly elliptic with gland at or near blade-base
var. gracilipes
1: Peduncles 2- 4 mm long; phyllodes linear-oblanceolate or narrowly elliptic with gland 2- 12 mm above blade-base.
2 Phyllodes linear-oblanceolate
var. whanii
2: Phyllodes narrowly elliptic or linear-elliptic
var. lanigera
Acacia lanigera A.Cunn. var. lanigera
Phyllodes narrowly elliptic or linear-elliptic, 3–5.5 cm long, 3–7 mm wide, rarely to 8 cm long and 11 mm wide, sharply pungent, acute, with anastomoses occasional to numerous; gland mostly 3.5–13 mm above pulvinus. Peduncles 2–4 mm long, glabrous to moderately hairy; flower-heads globular to subglobular, 6.5 mm diam., 6–7 mm long.
Locally common from the Coonabarabran region, N.S.W., S to between Pine Mtn and Mt Pilot near Beechworth, Vic; also A.C.T. near Queanbeyan. Found in open eucalypt forest, on shale and granite hills, in shallow stony or sandy soils.
Another specimen, collected from between Tiltaldra and Walwa, Vic. ( Anonymous , 24 Feb. 1957, NSW222600), has atypically long and wide phyllodes, which resemble those of A. venulosa . However, it is clearly A. lanigera var . lanigera on account of its strongly curved pods, acute to acuminate bracteoles and glabrous peduncles.
Type of accepted name
Interior of N.S.W. [Bathurst region, Sept. 1822], A.Cunningham [221] ; lecto: K, fide R.S.Cowan & B.R.Maslin, Nuytsia 10: 66 (1995); isolecto: BM, K, PERTH (Fragment ex K); Bathurst, N.S.W., July 1823, A.Cunningham 19 ; paralecto: K; Bathurst, N.S.W., Dec. 1822, A.Cunningham 221 ; paralecto: BM, K.
Synonymy
Racosperma lanigerum (A.Cunn.) Pedley, Austrobaileya 2: 350 (1987). Type: as for accepted name.
Acacia lanigera var. brachyphylla Domin, Biblioth. Bot. 89: 250 (1926). ?Type: N.S.W., W.Macarthur ; K, fide R.S.Cowan & B.R.Maslin, loc. cit.
Illustrations
R.C.Graham, in W. Curtis’s Bot. Mag. n. ser., 3: pl. 2922 (1829); L.F.Costermans, Native Trees & Shrubs SE Australia 323 (1981); M.Simmons, Acacias Australia 199 (1981); T.Tame, Acacias SE Australia 72, fig. 55, pl. 55 (1992).
Representative specimens
NSW: 20.8 km from Bathurst on Fremantle road, E.F.Constable 4735 (NSW, PERTH); 3.1 km from centre of Coonabarabran town towards Baradine, N.Hall H78/14 (NSW, PERTH); A.C.T.: Black Mtn, 13 km W of Queanbeyan, R.H.Cambage 3084 (NSW); Vic.: base of north slope of Pine Mtn, M.G.Corrick 5984 (MEL, PERTH).
Acacia lanigera var. gracilipes Benth., Fl. Austral. 2: 325 (1864)
Phyllodes narrowly elliptic, 3.5–4 cm long, 3–4 mm wide, coarsely to sharply pungent, with anastomoses absent to few; gland basal or nearly so. Peduncles 6–9 mm long, glabrous; flower-heads globular, c. 5 mm diam.
Occurs in a restricted area from near Mountain Ck (S of Mt Deddick) and the Genoa R. area in eastern Vic. to the neighbouring Wallagaraugh R. area in N.S.W. Usually grows among granite boulders in open forest or shrubland.
Type of accepted name
Genoa R., Vic., Sept. 1860, F.Mueller s.n. ; lecto: K, fide R.S.Cowan & Maslin, Nuytsia 10: 69 (1995); isolecto: MEL235214, NSW222549, PERTH (Fragment ex K).
Representative collections
NSW: junction of Imlay Ck and Wallagaraugh R., D.E.Albrecht 3938 (MEL); Vic: East Gippsland: Genoa R., c. 1 km downstream from the Tasker track crossing, Wangarabell area, D.E.Albrecht 4878 (MEL, NSW); Deddick Track, 1.2 km NW of Mt Joan, 13.8 km S Mt Deddick, S.J.Forbes 162 (MEL, NSW, PERTH)
Acacia lanigera var. whanii (F.Muell. ex Benth.) Pescott, Census Acacia 24 (1914)
Phyllodes linear-oblanceolate, 4–5.5 cm long, 6–7 mm wide, obtuse, excentrically mucronate, with anastomoses occasional to few, rarely absent; gland 5–10 mm above pulvinus. Peduncles 2.5 mm long, glabrous; flower-heads widely ellipsoid, 5 mm long, 4.5 mm diam.
Widespread in central Vic. from Skipton NE to near Bendigo and E to Licola. A single collection made in 1922 labelled ‘Grampians’ requires confirmation. Occurs in shrubland with scattered trees, as far as known.
Type of accepted name
Near Skipton, Vic., W.Whan ; holo: K; iso: MEL30577, NSW222551, PERTH (Fragment ex K and MEL).
Synonymy
Acacia whanii F.Muell. ex Benth., Fl. Austral. 2: 386 (1864). Type: as for accepted name.
Representative collection
Vic.: Glenelg Hwy, 24 km SW of Ballarat and just E of Linton, T.B.Muir 2148 (MEL).
(RSC & 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.
