Acacia multisiliqua (Benth.) Maconochie, J. Adelaide Bot. Gard. 1: 179 (1978)
Spindly, glabrous shrub 1–3 m high, sometimes slender tree to 5 m high. Branchlets glabrous. Phyllodes narrowly elliptic, commonly slightly incurved, 3.5–6.5 cm long, 4–10 (–13) mm wide, acute or obtuse and mucronulate, coriaceous, with (1 or) 3 main nerves and few obscure, longitudinally anastomosing minor nerves inbetween; gland 1.5–10 mm above pulvinus, often 1 or 2 others along adaxial margin. Inflorescences simple or occasionally 1-headed racemes with axes to 2 mm long, 1 or 2 per node; peduncles 2–7 mm long; basal bract persistent; heads globular, 4–6 mm diam., c. 40-flowered, golden; bracteoles acute to short-acuminate, normally evident in buds. Flowers 5-merous; sepals free. Pods linear, raised over and constricted between seeds, to 6.5 cm long, 4–5 mm wide, chartaceous. Seeds longitudinal, elliptic to oblong-elliptic, 4–5.5 mm long, dull, black; aril clavate.
Scattered across the northern Kimberley, W.A., and Arnhem Land, N.T., including offshore islands, also in northern Qld near Lawn Hill and Cape Melville S to near Clermont. Grows on stony hills and slopes in sandstone country and, in drier areas, in lateritic soil in open woodland.
Allied with A. simsii and A. complanata .
Phyllodes used traditionally by N.T. aborigines to relieve nasal congestion, fide , Aboriginal Communities of the Northern Territory (1993), Traditional Aboriginal Medicines N. Territory Austral. 32–33 (Conservation Commission of the Northern Territory of Australia, Darwin).
Type of accepted name
Carpentaria Is., 1803 R.Brown ; holo: BM n.v ., fide J.R.Maconochie, loc. cit. ; iso: E, K, NSW, P.
Synonymy
Acacia simsii var. multisiliqua Benth., Fl. Austral. 2: 383 (1864); Racosperma multisiliquum (Benth.) Pedley, Austrobaileya 2: 352 (1987). Type: as for accepted name.
Illustrations
F.J.H. von Mueller, Iconogr. Austral. Acacia dec. 7, pl. [10] (1887), flowering material only; J.Brock, Top End Native Pl. 69 (1988).
Representative collections
W.A.: Crocodile Ck, Yanipi Penin., K.F.Kenneally 10126 (BRI, CANB, DNA, PERTH). N.T.: 35.4 km SSW of Borrologla, N.M.Henry 165 (PERTH); Gove Penin., D.Hinz 741611 (PERTH). Qld: 13 km S of Laura, J.R.Clarkson 3671 (PERTH).
(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.
