Acacia vestita Ker Gawl., Bot. Reg . 9: t. 698 (1823)
Hairy Wattle , Weeping Boree
Bushy shrub to 4 m high; branches gracefully pendulous. Branchlets pubescent to villous. Phyllodes inequilaterally ovate-elliptic but often narrowly so, 10–20 mm long, 4–10 mm wide, with a delicate, straight to shallowly incurved, 1–2 mm long mucro, thin, grey-green to glaucous, with indumentum as on branchlets but hairs normally shorter and slightly antrorse, 1-nerved per face; lateral nerves indistinct; gland indistinct, 0–1.5 mm above pulvinus. Inflorescences racemose; raceme axes 1.5–6 cm long, hirtellous; peduncles 1.5–4 mm long, hirtellous; heads globular, 12–18-flowered, bright light golden. Flowers 5-merous; sepals united. Pods narrowly oblong, rounded over seeds, to c.11 cm long, 10–14 mm wide, thinly coriaceous, dark brown but pruinose at least when young, glabrous. Seeds longitudinal, oblong to elliptic, 5.5–7 mm long, slightly shiny, black; aril clavate.
Occurs in N.S.W. on the western part of the Great Divide from near Dunedoo S to Yass, also further S from Delegate to Bega. Usually grows on rocky hillsides in Eucalyptus woodland or open forest.
A widely cultivated, ornamental species.
Acacia semibinervia appears to be a garden hybrid involving A. pravissima and A. vestita .
A putative hybrid involving A. vestita and A. decora is recorded from ‘Whitewell’, Wellington ( G.W.Althofer 144 , NSW). It has narrowly elliptic phyllodes 2–3 cm long and 2–4 mm wide but otherwise has the characters of A. vestita .
Type of accepted name
Cultivated in the conservatory of Comtesse de Vandes, Bayswater, England, from seed supplied by A.Cunningham ; n.v.
Acacia conspicua hort. ex Anonymous, Rev. Hort . 2: 31 (1835). Type: ‘On l’a vue en fleurs il y a quelques annees chez M. Boursault. Aujourd’hui M. Cels en possede un pied en pleine floraison.’ [based on a cultivated plant originating from Australia]; n.v . Judging from the description this species is conspecific with A. vestita ; this is supported by both G.Don, Gen. Hist . 2: 405 (1832) and F.A.W.Miquel & J.C.Groenewegen, Cat. Hort. Amstelod. 1857: 323 (1857), who cite the name in synonymy under A. vestita .
Illustrations
J.B.Ker Gawler, loc. cit. ; L.F.Costermans, Native Trees & Shrubs S E Australia 314 (1981). M.Simmons, Acacias Australia 119 (1981); T.Tame, Acacias SE Australia 166, fig. 187, pl. 187 (1992).
Representative collections
N.S.W.: 10.4 km NE of Kelso on Limekilns Rd (NE of Bathurst), E.F.Constable 5597 (NSW, PERTH); Warrumba Ra., c. 16 km NE of Grenfell, E.F.Constable 7247 (NSW, PERTH); Bombala District, Nov. 1901, J.H.Maiden s.n. (NSW); 2 km E of Reids Flat at Lachlan R. crossing, on Reids Flat Rd to Bigga, B.R.Maslin 5894 (MEXU, NSW, PERTH); Australia [N.S.W.], F.Sieber 444 (G-DC, K, MO, NSW, OXF).
(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.
