Acacia flavescens

Family

Mimosaceae

Botanical Name

Acacia flavescens A.Cunn. ex Benth.

Bentham, G. (1842) The London Journal of Botany 1: 381. Type: N.E. Coast, Cunningham [Given by L.Pedley, Austrobaileya 1 (1978) 217 as Percy Islands, June 318/1819, Cunningham (K, holo).].

Synonyms

Acacia flavescens var. typica Domin, Bibliotheca Botanica 89(4): 818(1928), Type: ?. Racosperma flavescens (Benth.) Pedley, Austrobaileya 2(4): 348(1987), Type: ?. Acacia flavescens Benth. var. flavescens, Bibliotheca Botanica 89(4): 818(1928), Type: ?. Acacia flavescens var. nobilis Domin, Bibliotheca Botanica 89(4): 818(1928), Type: Queensland: Savannenwulder am Cape Grafton, (DOMIN I. 1910). [given by L.Pedley, Austrobaileya 1 (1978) 217.

Common name

Red Wattle; Wattle, Red; Yellow Wattle

Stem

Dead bark layered.

Leaves

Leaf blades green, phyllodineous. Veins longitudinal, transversely reticulate, three running +/- parallel with the blade margin appear more prominent than the rest. Leaf blades about 9-24 x 2-4 cm, margins thickened and vein like. Between one and five small projecting glands along the more curved margin of the leaf blade and a similar structure at the junction of the leaf blade and the petiole. Stellate hairs visible with a lens on the young shoots and leaves.

Flowers

Inflorescence consists of panicles of heads of flowers, head peduncles about 10-15 mm long and clothed in dense yellowish hairs, heads about (30-)40-50 flowered. Calyx about 1.1-1.3(-1.6)mm long, lobes about 0.3-0.5 mm long, usually pubescent. Corolla about 1.7-1.9(-2.1) mm long, lobes pubescent, about 0.6-0.8 mm long, corolla about 1.5 times as long as the calyx. Stamens about 4-5 mm long. Ovary densely pubescent.

Fruit

Pod flat, transversely veined, about 6-12 x 1.5-2 cm. Seeds brown to black, transversely oriented in the pod, about 6 x 4 mm. Funicle cream to pale green, but brown when dry, ribbon-like, folded and finally expanded into a cupular aril-like structure.

Seedlings

Cotyledons oblong, elliptic-obovate, about 7-9 mm long. First leaf pinnate, second leaf bipinnate. By the third or fourth leaf stage: leaves bipinnate, petiole expanded and flattened. At the tenth leaf stage: leaves simple, phyllodineous, ovate, unequal-sided, longest side of the leaf blade with about 3-6 glandular teeth along the margin, upper and lower surfaces with sparse pale stellate hairs, more frequent towards the base; petiole and stem stellate hairy, terminal bud densely clothed in pale stellate hairs; stipules triangular.

Distribution and Ecology

Endemic to Queensland?, occurs in CYP, NEQ and southwards as far as south-eastern Queensland. Altitudinal range from sea level to 1000 m. Usually grows in open forest but also found on the margins of monsoon forest and rain forest.

Natural History

Food plant for the larval stages of the Blue Jewel Butterfly. Common & Waterhouse (1981).