Acacia xerophila W.Fitzg., J. Western Australia Nat. Hist. Soc . 2 (1): 8 (May 1904)
Spreading, multistemmed shrub 0.3–1 m high. Branchlets glabrous or puberulous. Stipules spinose, 2–6 mm long, slender, straight or shallowly recurved. Phyllodes dimidiate, narrowly elliptic to lanceolate, sometimes obovate-oblanceolate, sometimes recurved, 1–3 cm long, 2–7 mm wide, normally acuminate, pungent, rigid, glaucous, glabrous or puberulous; adaxial margin sometimes nerve-like; midrib central or near abaxial margin. Inflorescences rudimentary 1- or 2-headed racemes with axes <0.5 mm long; peduncles 5–11 mm long, normally glabrous; heads globular, 17–30-flowered. Flowers 5-merous; sepals free to 1/2 united; petals obscurely 1-nerved. Pods (var. brevior only) sessile, narrowly oblong, to 5 cm long, 8–10 mm wide, thinly crustaceous, blackish, glabrous. Seeds (var. brevior only, slightly immature), oblique and close together, c. 5 mm long, c. 3 mm wide; aril terminal, pileiform.
Scattered from Kanandah Stn on the western edge of the Nullarbor Plain to Southern Cross, W.A.
Probably related to A. pritzeliana .
Pritzel and Fitzgerald independently described this taxon in 1904, basing their respective names on different specimens of the same collection. It is assumed that Pritzel used a specimen at B to prepare his account of A. fitzgeraldii ; this specimen appears to no longer exist although PERTH has a fragment of it. Two varieties are recognised.
Branchlets and phyllodes glabrous; phyllodes 2–3 cm long; sepals 1/4–1/2 united
var. xerophila
Branchlets and phyllodes usually puberulous; phyllodes 1–2 cm long; sepals free
var. brevior
Acacia xerophila W.Fitzg. var. xerophila
Branchlets glabrous. Phyllodes 2–3 cm long, glabrous; adaxial margin finely yet clearly 2-nerved for at least part of its length. Heads 18–30-flowered. Sepals 1/4–1/2 united; petals c. 2.1 mm long.
Scattered from Kanandah Stn on the western edge of the Nullarbor Plain to Bardoc, N of Kalgoorlie. Grows in red sand over limestone on plains (Kananda) or in rocky loam on hillsides (Bardoc).
Type of accepted name
Bardoc, W.A., July 1899, W.V.Fitzgerald s.n .; lecto: NSW, fide B.R.Maslin & R.S.Cowan, Nuytsia 9: 393 (1994); isolecto: PERTH00776386 & 00776408 (Fragment ex B).
Synonymy
Acacia fitzgeraldii E.Pritz., Bot. Jahrb. Syst . 35: 29l (Dec. l904). Type: Bardoc, W.A., July 1899, W.V.Fitzgerald s.n. ; syn: NSW, PERTH00776386 & 00776408 (Fragment ex B).
Representative collections
W.A.: 0.8 km S of Bardoc towards Kalgoorlie, B.R.Maslin 1918 (PERTH); Kanandah Stn, 41 km N of the Trans Australian Railway line, G.J.Keighery & J.J.Alford 570 (PERTH); 19 km S of Queen Victoria Spring, R.D.Royce 5546 (PERTH).
Acacia xerophila var. brevior (E.Pritz.) Maslin, Nuytsia 12: 410 (1999)
Differing from the typical variety in the following ways. Branchlets normally puberulous. Phyllodes 1–2 cm long, usually antrorsely puberulous; adaxial margin indistinctly nerved. Heads 17–21-flowered. Sepals free; petals 1.5–1.7 mm long.
Occurs mainly in the Kalgoorlie district from Hampton Hill Stn to near Coolgardie and Widgiemooltha; a glabrous variant occurs near Southern Cross (e.g. M.H.Simmons 1225 , PERTH). Grows on loam flats or rocky hills in Eucalyptus woodland.
Type of accepted name
Near Coolgardie, W.A., 1898, L.C.Webster s.n .; iso: Z.
Synonymy
Acacia fitzgeraldii var. brevior E.Pritz., Bot. Jahrb. Syst . 35: 291 (1904). Type: as for accepted name.
Representative collections
W.A.: Yindarlgooda Lake, Hampton Hill Stn, c. 40 km ESE of Kalgoorlie, R.Coveny 8409 & B.Haberley (CANB, K, NSW, PERTH); 4.8 km S of Spargoville, B.R.Maslin 1904 (NSW, NT, PERTH); Coolgardie, 2 June 1897, L.C.Webster s.n. (MEL).
(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.
