Acacia rigescens Tindale & Bedward, in M.D.Tindale et al ., Austral. Syst. Bot . 9: 864 (1996)
Single-stemmed, spindly, viscid shrub, 0.6–3 m high. Bark smooth, grey. Branchlets slightly angular towards apices, tawny to pale yellow, scurfy, glabrous. Phyllodes rigidly erect, linear, tapering gradually towards base, scarcely tapering towards apex, straight, flat, 4.5–8.5 cm long, 3–4 mm wide, coriaceous, glossy, dark green, glabrous except for scattered hairs on margins and prominent midvein, scurfy, the minor veins 5–10 per mm, parallel; gland 1, basal, 2–4.5 mm above pulvinus. Spikes single or in pairs, 2.5–3.5 cm long, golden. Flowers 5-merous; calyx 0.6–0.7 mm long, dissected almost to base, clothed with curled hairs; corolla 1.3–1.4 mm long, dissected to 1/3–1/2, glabrous; ovary densely clothed with curled or straight, silvery hairs. Pods unknown.
Known only from Kakadu Natl Park and Arnhem Land, N.T. Gregarious and dense on sandstone plateaux with stony quartz surfaces, in low open eucalypt woodland and shrubland. Flowers June & July.
Allied to A. conspersa which has a cover of fine hairs on the phyllodes, longer stipules (1.2–2.2 mm long), a shorter corolla (0.9–1.1 mm long) and smaller ovary (0.4–0.6 mm long).
Type of accepted name
19.5 km SE of Jabiru East, Kakadu Natl Park, N.T., 2 June 1980, M.Lazarides 9133 ; holo: CANB; iso: BRI, DNA.
Representative collection
N.T.: 35 miles [56.4 km] SSE of Oenpelli, L.G.Adams 2785 (BRI, CANB, K).
(NSW)