Family

Fabaceae

Distribution

Mainly occurs in north-eastern N.S.W., NE of Tamworth, extending to Crows Nest, Qld.

Description

Shrub to 3 m high, multistemmed, flat-topped, often decumbent. Bark corrugated towards base. Branchlets angular, dark purplish brown, glabrous, often resinous. Phyllodes linear, straight to shallowly incurved, (6–) 10–25 cm long, 1–3.5 mm wide, coriaceous, glabrous, with numerous parallel non-anastomosing longitudinal nerves, the central nerve slightly more pronounced that the rest. Inflorescences 1 or 2 within axil of phyllodes; peduncles 0.5–3.5 mm long, resinous; heads globular to obloid or spikes short-cylindrical, 0.3–1 cm long, pale yellow to yellow. Flowers 5-merous; calyx 0.5–0.8 mm long, dissected to 1/5, with white hairs at base and brown hairs near apex; corolla 1.4–1.8 mm long, dissected to 1/2 with hairs as on calyx; ovary densely pubescent. Pods straight to slightly curved (often curving and twisting after open), slightly constricted between and raised over seeds, 2.5–8 cm long, 2–3 mm wide, thinly coriaceous to firmly chartaceous, longitudinally ridged, glabrous. Seeds longitudinal, narrowly elliptic-oblong, 3–4.5 mm long, black; pleurogram without halo; areole elongate, open.

Phenology

Flowers late July–mid Oct.

Habitat

Grows mostly in shallow sandy soil over granite at higher elevations, and on sandstone near the coast, in open eucalypt forests, occasionally in heaths or along creeks.

Specimens

Qld: Plunkett, SW of Beenleigh, A.R.Bean 6314 (BRI, MEL, NSW, PERTH); Stanthorpe, July 1904, J.L.Boorman (NSW). N.S.W.: Flagstone Ck crossing, 20.4 km (by road) N along Gulf Rd from Emmaville, R.G.Coveny 14608, R.O.Makinson & A.L.Quirico (BRI, CANB, NSW, PERTH); Fortis Ck, at bridge on Grafton–Coldale road, I.R.Telford 12005 & J.Nightingale (BRI, CANB, NSW, PERTH).

Notes

Allied to A. caroleae which has distinctly pedunculate spikes; also related to A. abbatiana.

FOA Reference

Data derived from Flora of Australia Volumes 11A (2001), 11B (2001) and 12 (1998), products of ABRS, ©Commonwealth of Australia

Author

Dr M.D.Tindale and Dr P.G.Kodela with the assistance of M.Bedward, S.J.Davies, C.Herscovitch, D.A.Keith and/or D.A.Morrison

Minor edits by B.R.Maslin & J.Rogers