Acacia melvillei Pedley, Austrobaileya 1: 201 (1978)
Yarran
Tree to c. 15 m high. Branchlets normally glabrous. Phyllodes ascending, narrowly elliptic or oblong-elliptic, straight, 5–10.5 cm long, 5–15 (- 25) mm wide, acute, sometimes mucronate, coriaceous, glabrous or sparsely appressed-puberulous, with numerous closely parallel, obscure nerves of which 1–3 sightly more prominent than the rest. Inflorescences 1–5-headed racemes, often 2 per axil; raceme axes 1–7 mm long, glabrous; peduncles 4–9 mm long, sparsely puberulous or glabrous; heads globular, 5–8 mm diam., 25–50-flowered, golden; bracteoles spathulate Flowers 5-merous; sepals 1/2-united. Pods oblong, flat, slightly raised over and irregularly constricted between seeds, straight, to 9 cm long, 9–15 mm wide, thinly chartaceous, transversely reticulate, glabrous. Seeds transverse, broadly elliptic, 3.5–5.5 mm long, glossy, brown-black; aril small.
Occurs in south-eastern Qld from Clermont SE to Stanthorpe and across central N.S.W., extending into Vic. to Mildura and Kerang. Grows in loam, clay and sand often in mixed open woodland and woodland.
Reputedly hybridises with A. loderi in Vic., fide T.J.Entwistle et al. , in N.G.Walsh & T.J.Entwistle (eds), Fl. Victoria 3: 605 (1996).
Very close to A. omalophylla and in Queensland both are known as Yarran . Possibly related also to A. maranoensis , which has longer, linear phyllodes.
Type of accepted name
9 miles [14 km] ENE of Springsure, Qld, Sept. 1961, M.Lazarides & R.Story 38 ; holo: BRI; iso: CANB, NSW.
Synonymy
Racosperma melvillei (Pedley) Pedley, Austrobaileya 2: 352 (1987). Type: as for accepted name.
? Acacia pendula var. glabrata F.Muell. ex Maiden, Wattles and Wattle-barks (Technical Education series No. 6) 25 (1890). Type: near Hay, N.S.W. (not other details given); n.v . In absence of seeing the type we are unsure of the application of this name; see comment by J.H.Maiden, Forest Fl. New South Wales 2: 126 (1905).
Acacia affin. pendula Court, in J.H.Willis, Handb. Pl. Victoria 2: 238 (1973).
Illustrations
T.Tame, Acacias SE Australia 83, fig. 71, pl. 71 (1992).
Representative collections
Qld: c. 10 km from Sprngsure towards Arcturus Downs, B.O’Keeffe 846 (BRI, PERTH); 12 km SW of Goombungee, J.H.Ross 3068 (PERTH). N.S.W.: 6.4 km N of Impini Pits, J.& T.Whaite 1928 (NSW, PERTH). Vic.: halfway between Kerang and Quambatook, 17 Sept. 1971, C.Williams (NSW).
(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.
