Acacia ulicifolia

Family

Mimosaceae

Botanical Name

Acacia ulicifolia (Salisb.) Court

Court, A.B. (1957) The Victorian Naturalist 73: 173. Type: ?.

Synonyms

Racosperma ulicifolium (Salisb.) Pedley, Austrobaileya 2(3): 356(1984), Type: ?. Mimosa ulicifolia Salisb., Prodr. Stirp.: 324(1796), Type: New South Wales, Port Jackson, Burton: holo: ?. Acacia juniperina (Vent.) Willd., Sp. Pl. 4: 1049(1806), Type: ?.

Common name

Juniper Wattle; Prickly Moses; Wattle, Juniper

Stem

Flowers and fruits as a shrub about 1-4 m tall.

Leaves

Leaves phyllodineous. Leaf blades +/- needle-like, about 10-12 x 1.5 mm with a sharp pungent point at the apex. Midrib raised on both surfaces. Stipules small, brown, thorn-like, about 1-1.5 mm long.

Flowers

Flowers sessile, packed in spherical heads on peduncles about 5-15 mm long. Calyx +/- translucent, clothed in white hairs. Corolla +/- translucent, yellow-green towards the apex. Anther filaments glabrous, white. Ovary green.

Fruit

Pods linear, about 4-5 x 0.5 cm. Funicle orange-brown, straight, about 3 mm long.

Seedlings

Cotyledons about 4-5 x 2 mm. First leaf pinnate, second leaf bipinnate, leaflets apiculate. At the tenth leaf stage: leaves phyllodineous, terete or linear, about 6-8 x 1 mm, apex subulate, base sessile. Midrib just visible with a lens. Stipules linear, about 1 mm long.

Distribution and Ecology

Endemic to Australia, occurs in NEQ and southwards as far as Tasmania. Altitudinal range in NEQ from 900-1100 m. In NEQ usually grows in open forest and wet sclerophyll forest but occasionally found on rain forest margins.

Natural History

This species has exhibited some anti-tumour activity. (http://www.rain-tree.com/form_intensive.htm)