Acacia aciphylla is a species of flowering plant in the family Fabaceae and is endemic to the south-west of Western Australia. It is a bushy, prickly shrub with down-turned, rigid, sharply-pointed phyllodes, flowers arranged in a oval heads usually arranged in pairs in leaf axils, and linear pods up to 90 mm (3.5 in) long.
| Acacia aciphylla | |
|---|---|
Scientific classification 
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| Kingdom: | Plantae |
| Clade: | Tracheophytes |
| Clade: | Angiosperms |
| Clade: | Eudicots |
| Clade: | Rosids |
| Order: | Fabales |
| Family: | Fabaceae |
| Subfamily: | Caesalpinioideae |
| Clade: | Mimosoid clade |
| Genus: | Acacia |
| Species: | A. aciphylla
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| Binomial name | |
| Acacia aciphylla | |
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| Occurrence data from AVH | |
| Synonyms[1] | |
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Description
editThe shrub is prickly with a dense and bushy habit typically growing to a height of 0.6 to 1.8 metres (2 to 6 ft).[2] It has glabrous branchlets and phyllodes. The sessile phyllodes are decurrent on branchlets. They are rigid, erect, straight and terete to slightly rhombic in cross-section. Each phyllode is 6 to 12 centimetres (2.4 to 4.7 in) in length with a diameter of about 1.5 millimetres (0.06 in).[3] It flowers from July to September producing densely packed golden-yellow flowers. The inflorescences are simple with two found 2 per axil. The heads of each inflorescence has an obloid shape and are about 6 to 9 millimetres (0.24 to 0.35 in) in length with a diameter of around 2 mm (0.08 in). Following flowering, seed pods are produced that have a linear shape that is slightly raised between seeds. the pods are straight with a length of about 9 cm (4 in) and a width of 2.5 mm (0.10 in).[2][3][4]
Taxonomy
editThe species was first formally described by the botanist George Bentham in 1855 in the journal Linnaea: Ein Journal für die Botanik in ihrem ganzen Umfange, oder Beiträge zur Pflanzenkunde.[5][6]
Etymology
editThe species epithet, "aciphylla", derives from the Latin, acinaces, meaning "a short Persian sabre", and the Greek, phyllon, meaning "leaf", and describes the sharp-pointed leaves.[7]
Distribution and habitat
editThe plant grows in sandy, loamy and lateritic soils and on granite outcrops and rocky ridges[2] in mixed shrub-land communities. It has a broken distribution between Kalbarri, Mullewa and Morawa.[3]
See also
editReferences
edit- ^ a b "Acacia aciphylla". Australian Plant Census. Retrieved 3 January 2024.
- ^ a b c "Acacia aciphylla". FloraBase. Western Australian Government Department of Biodiversity, Conservation and Attractions.
- ^ a b c "Acacia aciphylla". WorldWideWattle. Department of Parks and Wildlife. Retrieved 26 March 2018.
- ^ "Acacia aciphylla". Flora of Australia. Australian Biological Resources Study, Department of Climate Change, Energy, the Environment and Water: Canberra. Retrieved 31 December 2023.
- ^ "Acacia aciphylla". Australian Plant Name Index. Retrieved 3 January 2024.
- ^ Bentham, George (1855). "Plantae Muellerianae: Mimoseae". Linnaea: ein Journal für die Botanik in ihrem ganzen Umfange, oder Beiträge zur Pflanzenkunde. 26 (5): 627–628. Retrieved 3 January 2024.
- ^ "acinaciphyllus,-a,-um". plantillustrations.org. Retrieved 2024-11-12.