Acacia linifolia (Vent.) Willd., Sp. Pl. 4th edn, 4: 1051 (1806)
Flax-leaved Wattle , White Wattle
Graceful open shrub 2–6 m high; branches arching. Branchlets, finely ribbed, usually glabrous. Phyllodes rather crowded, spreading erect to erect, linear, 2–5 cm long, usually 0.8–2.5 mm wide and flat, commonly narrowed at base, mucronulate, thin, glabrous except pulvinus often sparsely hairy abaxially; midrib not prominent; lateral nerves obscure or absent; gland not prominent, 5–15 mm above pulvinus. Inflorescences racemose; raceme axes 2–5 cm long, slender, usually glabrous; peduncles 2–5 mm long, slender, usually glabrous; heads globular, 6–12-flowered, creamy yellow. Flowers 5-merous; sepals united, 1/4 length of petals; ovary glabrous. Pods stipitate, to 10 cm long, sometimes to 15 cm, 7–13 mm wide, firmly chartaceous to thinly coriaceous, dark purplish brown to black. Seeds longitudinal, oblong-elliptic to ovate, 5 mm long, dull, black; aril subclavate.
Occurs on the E side of the Great Divide from near Singleton S to near Mittagong, also near Narooma (c. 200 km S of Mittagong), N.S.W. Usually grows in sand on sandstone in dry sclerophyll forest or woodland.
A variant from the Howes Mtn region, N.S.W., is recognised by the following characters: phyllodes very slender, 0.5–1 mm wide, flat to terete, midrib very obscure or absent; branchlets, peduncles and raceme axes frequently hairy (e.g. E.F.Constable s.n ., NSW178572, PERTH). Intermediates between ‘typical’ A. linifolia and the variant appear to occur at Howes Mtn.
G.Bentham, Fl. Austral. 2: 371 (1864), included elements of A. fimbriata under A. linifolia . J.H.Maiden, Forest Fl. New South Wales 5(2): pl. 157 (1911), discussed and illustrated the differences between these two species.
Allied to A. meiantha and A. boormanii .
Type of accepted name
Cultivated plant, material originating from Botany Bay [Sydney, N.S.W.] and introduced into J.M.Cels’ garden in 1792; ?iso: G-DC (specimen labelled : Mimosa linarifolia Vent. h. Cels, M.B.Delessert 1816).
Synonymy
Mimosa linifolia Vent., Descr. Pl. Nouv. 2, t. 2 (1800); Phyllodoce linifolia (Vent.) Link, Handbuch 2: 133 (1831). Type: as for accepted name.
Acacia abietina Willd., Sp. Pl. 4th edn, 4: 1051 (1806); Mimosa abietina (Willd.) Poir., Encycl. Suppl. 1: 60 (1810). Type: Nova Hollandia [Australia], collector not given; holo: B.
Mimosa linearis J.C.Wendl., Bot. Beob. 56 (1798); Acacia linearis (J.C.Wendl.) J.F.Macbr., Contr. Gray Herb . 59: 8 (1919), non Sims (1820); A. linearis (J.C.Wendl.) Hochr., Candollea 2: 375 (1925). Type: ‘Vaterland: Sudsee- Inseln. (wie oben)’; holo: GOET (sheet labelled Mimosa pinifolia , also annotated ‘linearis’ by J.C.Wendland).
Illustrations
E.P.Ventenat, Descr. Pl. Nouv. 2, t. 2 (1800); J.H.Maiden, Forest Fl. New South Wales 5(2): pl. 157 (1911); T.Tame, Acacias SE Australia 159, fig. 176, pls 176 & 176a (1992).
Representative collections
N.S.W.: Running Stream Ck, c. 5 km ENE of Glen Davis, E.F.Constable 5131 (NSW, PERTH); Asquith, Oct. 1967, M.Debenham s.n. (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.
