Acacia nanodealbata J.H.Willis, Victorian Naturalist 73: 154 (1957)
Tree to 12 m high. Bark smooth, silvery or grey. Branchlets terete but angled towards apices, densely grey-puberulous or glabrous and purplish black or reddish brown, often pruinose; ridges to 0.5 mm high. Young foliage-tips golden, often slightly greenish. Leaves coriaceous, dark green, paler beneath; petiole above pulvinus (0.1–) 0.5–1.6 cm long, grey-puberulous or glabrous, usually with a gland at or near basal pinnae; rachis 2–11.5 cm long, densely puberulous or glabrous, with prominent, brown, pouch-like, jugary glands, interjugary glands rare; pinnae 6–26 pairs, mostly 1–3 cm long, the lower pinnae smaller; pinnules 9–34 pairs, closely spaced, narrowly oblong to oblong or obovate, 1–2.5 mm long, 0.4–0.8 (–1) mm wide, minutely tuberculate, ciliate otherwise glabrous or with a few minute hairs, apex subacute, truncate, emarginate or broadly rounded. Inflorescences in axillary racemes, or mostly in axillary or terminal false-panicles. Heads 12–20-flowered, golden. Pods straight-sided to variably and irregularly constricted between seeds, 3–8.5 cm long, 9–20 mm wide, thinly coriaceous, purplish blue or reddish brown, pruinose, sparsely puberulous or glabrous. 2 n = 26, B.G.Briggs, on M.D.Tindale s.n. (NSW90482).
Endemic to Vic. in the central highlands from Mt Macedon S to the Otway Ra. Grows usually in large stands, in subalpine eucalypt forest or in tall open forest. Flowers Aug.–Oct.; fruits Jan., Feb.
In the Healesville- Mt St. Leonard area A. nanodealbata is characterised by densely puberulous branchlets, petioles and rachises as well as by short petioles to 0.5 cm long, very short pinnae 0.7–1.5 cm long and very small pinnules 1–1.5 mm long. In the Otway Ra. this species is a larger, almost glabrous tree to 12.2 m high with 11–23 pairs of pinnae (instead of 6–16 pairs) growing in tall open forest with Eucalyptus regnans , E. globulus and Acacia dealbata .
Acacia nanodealbata is allied to A. constablei .
Type of accepted name
Poley Hill, in Melbourne and Metropolitan Board of Works O’Shannassy Reserve, c. 10 miles [16.1 km] NE of Warburton, Vic., 18 Feb. 1954, J.H.Willis ; holo: MEL n.v .; iso: K n.v ., NSW.
Illustrations
T.Tame, Acacias SE Australia 192, fig. 219; pl. 219 (1992); T.J.Entwistle, in N.G.Walsh & T.J.Entwistle (eds), Fl. Victoria 3: 656, fig. 132d & e (1996).
Representative collections
Vic.: Summit of Mt Macedon, E.F.Constable 5260 (A, AD, BRI, CANB, NSW, PERTH, TL, US); Mt St. Leonard, 9.7 km N of Healesville, E.F.Constable 5274 (AD, BRI, CANB, NSW, PERTH, UC, US); 2.4 km from junction of Myers Rd and the Healesville–Mt St. Leonard’s Road, A.B.Court & M.D.Tindale 802 (BRI, K, MEL, NSW, PE, US); 17.7 km W of Lavers Hill, M.D.Tindale s.n. (NSW63177); Great Ocean road, SW of Lavers Hill, 16 Jan. 1972, J.H.Willis (MEL, NSW).
(MDT & PGK)
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.
