Acacia venulosa Benth., London J. Bot . 1: 366 (1842)
Shrub 0.5–3 m high. Branchlets angular-ribbed at extremities, variably white-puberulous with red-brown to black resin-hairs intermixed. Phyllodes ascending, narrowly elliptic, straight to incurved, mostly 5–9 cm long, 4–15 mm wide, acute or obtuse, coarsely pungent or innocuous, coriaceous, glabrous or subglabrous except margins sometimes appressed hairy, with black resin-hairs often persistent on faces, with 3 main nerves and longitudinally anastomosing minor nerves inbetween; gland 1–4 mm above pulvinus. Inflorescences mostly 2–6-headed racemes; raceme axes to 1 cm long; peduncles 3–10 mm long, densely puberulous; heads globular, 6–9 mm diam., 30- 40-flowered, golden; bracteoles linear-spathulate, the laminae rounded or minutely apiculate. Flowers 5-merous; sepals usually free. Pods linear, straight, to 7.5 cm long, 6 mm wide, thinly crustaceous, densely white-villous. Seeds longitudinal, 4.5 mm long, 3 mm wide; aril terminal.
Most common in the Stanthorpe region of south-eastern Qld and adjacent parts of N.S.W. (on the North Coast S to c. 15 km NW of Corindi Beach, Northern Tablelands S to c. 35 km SSE of Armidale and the North Western Slopes in the Howell area); it also occurs further N on the Blackdown Tableland near Blackwater in central Qld. Grows in understorey in eucalypt woodland in sandy, gravelly and loam soils on granite hills, occasionally in heathland.
G.Bentham, London J. Bot . 1: 367 (1842), described A. venulosa var. lanata based on Cunningham 91 and 98 , but these specimens appear to represent A. ixiophylla , see R.S.Cowan & B.R.Maslin, Nuytsia 10: 72 (1995), for discussion.
On some specimens from N.S.W. the sepals are sometimes 1/2-united; elsewhere the sepals are free or shortly united at their base.
Closely related to A. lanigera var. lanigera (with which it has often been merged as a variety) which differs by its lack of black resin-hairs on the branchlets, sessile bracteoles, its sepals are at least two-thirds united, and curved to coiled pods; see R.S.Cowan & B.R.Maslin, Nuytsia 10: 65–66 (1995), for further details. Also similar to A. baeuerlenii .
The specimen ‘12.8 km S of Wagga Wagga, 19 Dec. 1951, G.Withers (NSW)’ cited by R.S.Cowan & B.R.Maslin, Nuytsia 10: 71 (1995), as Acacia venulosa (representing its southern limit as an outlying population) has since been re-determined as A. lanigera var. lanigera , which has been commonly collected from the Wagga Wagga region. The occurrence of A. venulosa in the Warrumbungle Ra., N.S.W., has possibly been confused with A. lanigera or intermediates between A. lanigera and A. venulosa , and requires further investigation. Specimens from the Warrumbungle Ra. at Herb. NSW have mostly been placed under A. lanigera var. lanigera , fide P.G.Kodela (pers. comm.).
Type of accepted name
‘Liverpool plains. New Holland. 83 AC. see list 1829’; holo: K, see discussion in R.S.Cowan & B.R.Maslin, Nuytsia 10: 70 (1995); ?iso (labelled Dumaresq R.): K, PERTH (Fragment ex K).
Synonymy
Acacia lanigera var. venulosa (Benth.) C.Moore & Betche, Handb. Fl. New South Wales 162 (1893); A. lanigera var. venulosa (Benth.) F.Muell. ex Maiden, Wattles & Wattle-barks 3rd edn, 58, 78 (1906), nom. illeg .; Racosperma venulosum (Benth.) Pedley, Austrobaileya 2: 357 (1987). Type: as for accepted name.
Illustrations
M. Simmons, Acacias Australia 2: 145 (1988); T.Tame, Acacias SE Australia 72, fig. 56, pl. 56 (1992).
Representative collections
Qld: Pyramids Rd, Girraween Natl Park, R.S.& R.A.Cowan A-793 (CANB, K, PERTH). N.S.W.: 9.7 km c. S of Coaldale, 27.4 km NNW of Grafton, R.G.Coveny 3865 & K.Thurtell (NSW); New England Hwy, 70.4 km S of Tenterfield, R.Coveny 2247 (NSW, PERTH).
(RSC & 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.
