Acacia rostellifera Benth., London J. Bot . 1: 356 (1842)
Dense shrub or tree to 6 m high, often clonal. Bark dark grey and fissured on main trunks. Branchlets glabrous, scurfy. Phyllodes linear to linear-elliptic or narrowly oblanceolate, 4.5–11.5 cm long, 3–17 mm wide, l:w = 4–30, uncinate to subuncinate, sometimes excentrically rostellate, thin, frequently puncticulate, glabrous, 1-nerved or imperfectly 2-nerved; lateral nerves obscure; glands not prominent, 4–12 mm above pulvinus, often also at base of mucro. Inflorescences 3–9 headed racemes; raceme axes 1–3 cm long; peduncles 3–8 mm long, glabrous; heads globular, 5–7 mm diam., to 10 mm when fresh, subdense, 15–25 flowered, golden. Flowers 5-merous; sepals united into a shallowly lobed or sinuate-toothed calyx. Pods erect, submoniliform, to 9 cm long, 5–7 mm wide, firmly crustaceous, breaking readily at constrictions. Seeds longitudinal, oblong to widely elliptic, 4–6 mm long, dull or shiny, dark brown; aril prominent, twice-folded, orange or red.
Occurs in coastal areas of south-western W.A. from Shark Bay S to Cape Naturaliste and from Bremer Bay E to Israelite Bay, at the northern end of the range it extends inland to Latham. Grows in sand, frequently on dunes where it may form monotypic stands.
A member of the ‘ A. bivenosa group’. Although A. rostellifera is somewhat variable in phyllode shape and size (e.g. see A.R.Chapman & B.R.Maslin, Nuytsia 8: 250, 1992) it is distinguished from its closest relatives by a combination of the following characters: branchlets scurfy, phyllodes thin, green, frequently puncticulate (i.e. possessing minute brown peltate glandular hairs which seem to leave obscure shallow depressions in the phyllode surface), 1-nerved or with a very faint second nerve, uncinate to subuncinate and with a distinct mucro. Specimens from around the Murchison R. have distinctly 1-nerved, narrow phyllodes (3–6 mm wide) and shorter racemes with consistently fewer flower-heads than normal. This variant extends to Shark Bay where it can be confused with A. ligulata . Also closely related to A. xanthina , with which it appears to hybridise near Jurien Bay. Narrow, green phyllode forms of A. blakelyi Maiden may resemble A. rostellifera , but are readily distinguished by their horizontally flattened phyllodes with the gland situated on the adaxial surface (not on the adaxial margin as in A. rostellifera ). The species is sometimes confused with A. saligna , with which it is commonly sympatric in some coastal habitats .
Type of accepted name
Swan R., W.A., J.Drummond 103; probable holo: K, fide A.R.Chapman & B.R.Maslin, Nuytsia 8: 272 (1992).
Synonymy
Acacia subbinervia Meisn., in J.G.C.Lehmann, Pl. Preiss . 1: 16 (1844). Type: Rottnest Is., W.A., 20 Aug. 1839, L.Preiss 924 ; lecto: LD, fide B.R.Maslin & R.S.Cowan, Nuytsia 9: 412 (1994); isolecto: C, G, GOET, HBG, L, M, NAP, NSW, P, STR, W; Swan R., W.A., J.Drummond 285 ; paralecto: BM (sheet labelled herb. Shuttleworth), G, K, P, W.
Acacia cyanophylla var. dorrienii Domin, Vestn. Krl. Cesk> Spolecn. Nauk, Tr. Mat.-Prr . 2: 46 (1923). Type: Yallingup and Cape Naturaliste, W.A., 1900, A.A.Dorrien-Smith; holo: PR.
[ Acacia salicina auct. non Lindl. (1838): B.P.G.Hochreutiner, Candollea 2: 375 (1925), as to Hochreutiner 2880 , Z]
Illustrations
M.Simmons, Acacias Australia 153 (1981); A.R.Chapman & B.R.Maslin, Nuytsia 8: 250, fig. 1(d) & 271, fig. 5C (1992)
Representative collections
W.A.: 24.2 km S of Billabong on North West Coastal Hwy, M.E.Ballingall 1896 (BRI, PERTH); 6 km inland of Point Malcolm, R.Hnatiuk 761133 (PERTH); 8 km S of Geraldton towards Perth, B.R.Maslin 75 (PERTH); near Fitzgerald R. crossing, Fitzgerald R. Natl Park, B.R.Maslin 3480 (PERTH); Cape Naturaliste Lighthouse, L.Nunn 544 (PERTH);
(ARC & 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.
