Acacia subporosa F.Muell. (as ‘supporosa’), Fragm. 4: 5 (1863)
Narrow-leaf Bower Wattle , Sticky Bower Wattle , River Wattle , Bower Wattle
Tree to 12 m high, viscid, with subpendulous branches. Branchlets with longitudinal green to brown, low ribs alternating with resinous bands, later terete and ribbed, glabrous. Phyllodes very narrowly elliptic, incurved, 6–9 cm long, 4–11 mm wide, l:w = 8- 18, acute to acuminate, thin, glabrous except margins appressed-puberulous, resinous-punctate, with 2–5 distant main nerves per face and some weaker longitudinal nerves between, with anastomoses few and obscure. Inflorescences simple, 1- 3 per axil; peduncles 6–11 mm long, antrorsely subappressed puberulous; basal bract persistent; heads globular, 6–7 mm diam., 20–25-flowered. Flowers 5-merous; sepals united. Pods linear, to 7.5 cm long, 5 mm wide, firmly chartaceous, glabrous. Seeds longitudinal, oblong, 4 mm long, glossy, dark brown; aril small, terminal.
Restricted to a coastal zone of south-eastern Australia from near Bega, N.S.W., S to the NE tip of Vic. near Howe Hill. Grows in moist sandy/shaley soils and conglomerates, especially along streams in gullies at margin of rain-forests, and on low hillsides.
Colour of the flower-heads is not recorded on specimens available but they are said to be ‘soft pale-yellow’ in this species and ‘pale lemon-yellow’ in the closely related A. cognata , fide L.F.Costermans, Native Trees & Shrubs SE Australia 325 (1981). These two species are members of the A. verniciflua complex and the relationship between them is discussed in R.S.Cowan & B.R.Maslin, Nuytsia 10: 78 (1995). Also similar to A. veronica and A. viscidula , both of which have 4-merous flowers.
Type of accepted name
Twofold Bay, [N.S.W.], F.Mueller s.n. ; lecto: MEL1000861, left-hand specimen, fide R.S.Cowan & B.R.Maslin, op. cit. 82; isolecto: K; Twofold Bay, [N.S.W.], F.Mueller s.n. ; paralecto: MEL1000857, MEL1000860 and right-hand specimen on lectotype sheet.
Synonymy
Acacia subporosa F.Muell., Pl. Victoria 2: 24 (1863), nom. inval . (not effectively published, fide A.B.Court et al. , Nuytsia 9: 315-318, 1994).
Illustrations
F. von Mueller, Iconogr. Austral. Acacia dec. 7 [pl. 8] (1887), as to broad phyllode flowering twig; L.F.Costermans, Native Trees & Shrubs SE Australia 325 (1981); T.Tame, Acacias SE Australia 68, fig. 50, pl. 50 (1992).
Representative collections
N.S.W.: 4.8 km N of Pambula on the Princes Hwy, R.Coveny 2927 (MEL, NSW); 3.2 km SE of Wonboyn, R.Coveny 2938 (NSW) Vic.: Harrison’s Ck, Howe Ra., East Gippsland, D.Cameron 3951 (NSW).
(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.
