Acacia podalyriifolia A.Cunn. ex Don (as ‘podalyriaefolia’), Gen. Hist . 2: 405 (1832)
Queensland Silver Wattle , Mt Morgan Wattle
Spreading tree 3–7 m high. Branchlets pruinose, velvety with dense, straight, soft and spreading hairs, very rarely glabrous. Phyllodes elliptic to widely elliptic, oblong-elliptic, ovate or sometimes obovate, 2–4 cm long, 1–2.5 cm wide, l:w normally 1.5–2.5, mucronate, thin, usually silvery grey to glaucous, with indumentum as on branchlets but sparser, sometimes glabrescent, with slightly excentric midrib, finely penninerved; gland normally inconspicuous and 8–18 mm above pulvinus; pulvinus 1–2 mm long. Inflorescenecs racemose; raceme axes 3–11 cm long, exceeding phyllodes, with indumentum similar to branchlets; peduncles 5–10 mm long, with indumentum similar to branchlets; heads showy, fragrant, globular, 15–30-flowered, bright light golden. Flowers 5-merous; sepals united. Pods to 12 cm long, 1.5–2 cm wide, thinly coriaceous, velvety and pruinose when young, sometimes glabrous with age, dehiscing unilaterally; margins often undulate. Seeds longitudinal, oblong, 6–7.5 mm long, dull, black; aril clavate.
Common in Qld from Mt Morgan inland to W of the Carnarvon Ra. and SE to Stanthorpe; in N.S.W. it is known only from Legume (c. 3 km W of Qld/N.S.W. border); naturalized in southwest W.A. and in S.A. In the N of its range it is more or less restricted to sandstone hills in open Eucalyptus forest, however, in the south it occurs on rocks of various types. An adaptable species which has become naturalised in some areas. Flowers mainly June and July.
G.Bentham, Fl. Austral. 2: 374 (1864), erroneously treated A. caleyi as conspecific with A. podalyriifolia .
A widely cultivated and fast growing species which is highly decorative on account of its masses of bright golden, perfumed heads and normally silvery grey to glaucous phyllodes. Variants with green phyllodes are rare and the invalid name, A. podalyriifolia var. viridis , presumably refers to these. Most closely related to A. uncifera .
The following three European garden hybrids involving A. podalyriifolia as one parent have been described:
A . x deneufvillei L.Winter ex A.Berger (as ‘de Neufvillei’) ( A. podalyriifolia x A. pycnantha ), Gartenwelt 14: 112 (1910); G.Vagliasindi, Rev. Hort. Belge Etrangre 37(3): 207, pl. (1911) & Bull. R. Soc. Toscana Ort . 37(7): 222 (1911); Le Tennier, Le Jardin No. 604: 122 (1912). Type: n.v .
A . x hanburyana L.Winter ex A.Berger ( A. podalyriifolia x A. dealbata ), Gartenwelt 14: 111 (1910); G.Vagliasindi, Rev. Hort. Belge EtrangRre 37(3): 206, pl. (1911) & Bull. R. Soc. Toscana Ort . 37(7): 220 (1911); Le Tennier, Le Jardin No. 604: 122 (1912). Type: n.v .
A. siebertiana L.Winter ex A.Berger ( A. podalyriifolia x A. pycnantha ), Gartenwelt 14: 112 (1910); G.Vagliasindi, Rev. Hort. Belge Etrangre 37(3): 207, pl. (1911) & Bull. R. Soc. Toscana Ort . 37(7): 223 (1911); Le Tennier, Le Jardin No. 604: 122 (1912). Type: n.v .
Type of accepted name
Birnam Ra., Brisbane R., July 1828, A.Cunningham 157 ; holo: K, fide L.Pedley, Austrobaileya 1: 276 (1980); iso: BM.
Synonymy
Racosperma podalyriifolium (A.Cunn. ex Don) Pedley, Austrobaileya 2: 354 (1987). Type: as for accepted name.
Acacia fraseri Hook., Icon. Pl . 2: t. 171 (1837). Type: Logan R., Qld, 1829, C.Fraser 28 ; holo: K.
Acacia podalyriifolia (as ‘podalyriaefolia’) var. viridis Guilf., Austral. Pl . 38, 464, pl. (1911), nom. inval . (description not diagnostic).
Acacia podalyriifolia var. typica Domin, Biblioth. Bot . 89: 256 (1926), nom. inval .
Illustrations
M.Simmons, Acacias Australia 135 (1981); B.A.Lebler, Wildfl. SE Queensland 2: 49 (1981); T.Tame, Acacias SE Australia 161, fig. 180, pl. 180 (1992); D.J.E.Whibley & D.E.Symon, Acacias S. Australia 2nd edn, 77 (1992).
Representative collections
Qld: 8 km N of Helidon on ‘17 mile road’, M.E.Ballingall 2104 (PERTH); Isla Gorge, S.L.Everist 8019 (BRI). N.S.W.: Legume, E.F.Constable s.n . (NSW3514).
(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.
