Acacia ruppii Maiden & Betche, Proc. Linn. Soc. New South Wales 37: 244 (1912)
Rupp’s Wattle
Spreading, open shrub 0.5–3 m high; bipinnate leaves sometimes retained on mature plants. Branchlets shortly villous. Phyllodes crowded, some subverticillate, on short stem-projections, ascending to erect, linear to narrowly oblanceolate or narrowly elliptic, straight to incurved, flat, 8–22 mm long, 1–2 mm wide, obliquely mucronate, glabrous to sparsely hairy, finely rugulose when dry, nerveless; gland inconspicuous, 2–9 mm above pulvinus, sometimes absent. Inflorescences 1–7-headed racemes, interspersed with some simple ones; raceme axes 3–40 mm long, stout, shortly villous; peduncles 4–11 mm long, stout, shortly villous; heads globular, 7–9 mm diam, 25–50-flowered, golden. Flowers 5-merous; sepals 2/3–5/6-united; petals appressed-hairy. Pods linear, variously curved, to 8 cm long, 4–7 mm wide, coriaceous, dark brown to blackish, glabrous or shortly villous. Seeds longitudinal, oblong-elliptic, 4–5 mm long, shiny, black; aril clavate.
Discontinuous, occurring in Eucalyptus woodland or open forest from Wyberba, Qld, S to Torrington, N.S.W., on elevated tablelands in sandy soils derived from granite, and in the Copmanhurst- Coaldale area, NNW of Grafton, N.S.W., in hills on sandstone.
Following L.Pedley, Austrobaileya 1: 244 (1980), A. torringtonensis is regarded as conspecific with A. ruppii , however, further studies may show it to warrant infraspecific status.
Typical A. ruppii has racemes 15–40 mm long with usually 4–7 heads and glabrous pods. It is restricted to near Coaldale, N.S.W., where it grows on sandstone.
Plants referable to A. torringtonensis have racemes 3–13 mm long with usually 2 heads and shortly villous pods. These occur on elevated areas from Torrington, N.S.W., N to the Wyberba-Wallangarra district, south-eastern Qld, and grow in acid granite soil.
Acacia gittinsii should perhaps also be treated as an infraspecific taxon of A. ruppii . Vegetatively A. ruppii is similar to A. conferta which is readily distinguished by its pods 10–15 mm wide, seeds transverse, and peduncles never in racemes.
Type of accepted name
Copmanhurst, Coaldale Rd, N.S.W., Aug. 1909, H.M.R.Rupp ; lecto: NSW, fide M.Tindale, Telopea 1: 70 (1975); Copmanhurst, N.S.W., Sept. 1909, H.M.R.Rupp ; paralecto: NSW; Copmanhurst, Coaldale Rd, N.S.W., Oct. 1911, H.M.R.Rupp ; paralecto: K, NSW.
Synonymy
Racosperma ruppii (Maiden & Betche) Pedley, Austrobaileya 2: 355 (1987). Type: as for accepted name.
Acacia torringtonensis Tindale, Telopea 1: 68 (1975). Type: Torrington, N.S.W., 7 Sept. 1973, R.Coveny 5200 ; holo: NSW; iso: A, AD n.v. , BRI n.v. , CANB n.v. , G, K n.v. , L n.v. , MEL n.v. , UC n.v. , US n.v.
Illustrations
I.B.Armitage, Acacias New South Wales 39 (1978) & 40 (1978), as A. torringtonensis ; M.Simmons, Acacias Australia 2: 85 & pl. 28 (1988); T.Tame, Acacias SE Australia 113, fig. 114, pl. 114 & 114, fig. 115, pl. 115 (1992), as torringtonensis .
Representative collections
Qld: eastern boundary, Girraween Natl Park, M.E.Ballingall 2417 (PERTH). N.S.W.: 19 km S of Silent Grove towards Torrington, R.Coveny 2270 (BRI, NSW, PERTH); Rocky Ck, Grafton- Coaldale road, T.Tame 1880 (NSW, PERTH).
(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.
