Acacia petraea Pedley, Contr. Queensland Herb . 15: 14; 20, fig. 2B & 26, fig. 8 (1974)
Lancewood
Shrub or tree to 10 m high. Bark longitudinally stringy, grey-brown. Branchlets angular towards apices, yellow-brown to purplish brown, appressed-pubescent, later glabrous. Phyllodes linear, straight to curved, 13.5–26 cm long, 2–6 mm wide, acuminate, coriaceous, inconspicuously multistriate, the midnerve scarcely prominent, the minor nerves 8–10 per mm, not anastomosing; gland 1, basal, to 2 mm above pulvinus. Spikes 2–4.5 cm long, bright yellow. Flowers 5-merous; calyx 0.7–1.2 mm long, dissected to 1/4–1/3; corolla 1.7–2.1 mm long, dissected to 1/2; ovary pubescent. Pods linear, slightly constricted between and slightly raised over seeds, to 11 cm long, 3–4 mm wide, chartaceous, glabrous. Seeds longitudinal, elliptic-oblong, 3–4.5 mm long, dark brown to brownish black; areole short, surrounded by a U-shaped pleurogram with a pale halo.
Occurs in south-western Qld on the Grey Ra. and its outliers, on lateritic scarps and ridge-tops; recorded in N.S.W. near the Qld border ESE of Hungerford and in the Louth–Bourke area. Flowers mid-May–Sept.
This species is allied to A. doratoxylon which does not occur in Qld and has smaller flowers, often shorter phyllodes, a better developed rudimentary axis bearing the spikes and seeds with a longer, narrow areole without a pale halo.
Type of accepted name
North-western extremity of Gowan Ra., SE of Emmet, Qld, 30 July 1963, Everist 7321 ; holo: BRI.
Synonymy
Racosperma petraeum (Pedley) Pedley, Bot. J. Linn. Soc . 92: 249 (1986). Type: as for accepted name.
Illustrations
L.Pedley, op. cit. 26, fig. 8 (1974).
Representative collections
Qld: near Eulo, Sept. 1981, Casben (NSW); 16.1 km from Thargomindah P.O., N.Hall H78/44 (NSW); 18 miles [28 km] S of Toompine on Quilpie–Thargomindah road, I.V.Newman 922 (BRI, NSW); Quilpie, L.Pedley 2823 (BRI, NSW). N.S.W.: 11 km N of Brindingabba HS, near Hungerford, Qld, W.E.Mulham 1513 (NSW).
(NSW)
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.
