Acacia pendula A.Cunn. ex Don, Gen. Hist. 2: 404 (1832)
Weeping Myall , Myall , Boree , Balaar , Nilyah , Silver-leaf Boree , True Myall
Tree to 12 m high with pendulous branches. Bark hard, fissured, dark grey to black. Branchlets slender, appressed-puberulous, glabrescent. Phyllodes narrowly elliptic, straight to recurved, 5–14 cm long, 4–10 mm wide, with an innocuous, acute to acuminate and normally shallowly curved apex, thinly coriaceous, densely appressed-puberulous when young, glabrescent, with numerous closely parallel nerves of which 1–3 more evident than the rest. Inflorescences 2–7-headed racemes; raceme axes 2–9 mm long, appressed-puberulous; peduncles 3–8 mm long, appressed-puberulous; heads globular, 3.5–4.5 mm diam., occasionally larger, 12–25-flowered, light golden; bracteoles spathulate. Flowers 5-merous; sepals free to 1/2-united. Pods narrowly oblong, flat, slightly raised over and irregularly slightly constricted between seeds, straight, curved or twisted, to 13 cm long, 9–12 mm wide, chartaceous to thinly coriaceous, coarsely reticulate, appressed-puberulous; margins winged, 2–3 mm wide. Seeds transverse, soft, broadly elliptic to discoid, 5–9 mm long; funicle/aril fleshy.
Occurs W of the Great Divide from Emerald in central Qld S through N.S.W. to the Vic. border, with an isolated occurrence in the Little Desert area, western Vic.; also far eastern S.A. Grows mainly on floodplains in fertile alluvial clay (and red earth soils in the S), sometimes dominant in woodland and open woodland.
Related to A. omalophylla which has narrower, unwinged pods, glabrous phyllodes and longitudinal seeds.
Because of the pale, silvery foliage and form of the crown of the tree, it has been cultivated extensively in this country and abroad, for example in Iran and Kuwait.
Type of accepted name
Lachlan R., N.S.W., June 1817, A.Cunningham 434 ; lecto: K, fide L.Pedley, Austrobaileya 1: 197 (1978); isolecto: BM.
Synonymy
Racosperma pendulum (A.Cunn. ex Don) Pedley, Austrobaileya 2: 353 (1987). Type: as for accepted name.
Acacia leucophylla Lindl., in T.L.Mitchell, Three Exped. Australia 2: 12 (1838), non Colvill ex Sweet, Hort. Brit. 1st edn, 101 (1826), nom. nud. Type: interior of New Holland [W side of Byrne’s Ck near junction with Lachlan R., N.S.W.], 24 Mar. 1836, T.Mitchell ‘21’ ; lecto: CGE, fide R.S.Cowan & B.R.Maslin, Nuytsia 10: 81 (1995); isolecto: K; subtropical New Holland, T.Mitchell ‘139’ ; paralecto: CGE.
Illustrations
F. von Mueller, Iconogr. Austral. Acacia dec. 6 [pl. 8] (1887); J.H.Maiden, Forest Fl. New South Wales 2: pl. 61 (1905); L.F.Costermans, Native Trees & Shrubs SE Australia 326 (1981); G.M.Cunningham et al. , Pl. W New South Wales 369, 370 (1981); J.W.Turnbull (ed.), Multipurpose Austral. Trees & Shrubs 181 (1986); E.Anderson, Pl. Central Queensland 32 (1993).
Representative collections
S.A.: 20 km SE of Plumbago Stn, R.J.Bates 41688 (AD). Qld: Augathella- Morven road, J.& M.Simmons 1110 (PERTH); 11.3 km NW of Myall Downs, N.H.Speck 1980 (NSW, PERTH). N.S.W.: 76.3 km NE of Conargo between Hay and Darlington Pt, R.G.Coveny 12891 et al. (AD, BRI, CANB, MEL, NSW, PERTH, PRE, US); 47.1 km from Grenfell towards West Wyalong, N.Hall H79/66 (PERTH, TLF). Vic.: c. 8 km from Warracknabeal, near the Henty Hwy and opposite the aerodrome, H.B.Irwin (MEL1500972).
(RSC)
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.
