Acacia alaticaulis is a species of flowering plant in the family Fabaceae and is endemic to a restricted area of New South Wales. It is a spindly, slender shrub to small tree with wavy, winged ridges on the branchlets, bipinnate leaves with 7 to 17 pairs of pinnae, flowers arranged in a racemes with 8 to 41 spherical heads of flowers, each with 12 to 16 pale yellow or pale cream-coloured flowers, and curved, more or less flat pods up to 40–120 mm (1.6–4.7 in) long.

Acacia alaticaulis
Scientific classification Edit this classification
Kingdom: Plantae
Clade: Tracheophytes
Clade: Angiosperms
Clade: Eudicots
Clade: Rosids
Order: Fabales
Family: Fabaceae
Subfamily: Caesalpinioideae
Clade: Mimosoid clade
Genus: Acacia
Species:
A. alaticaulis
Binomial name
Acacia alaticaulis
Synonyms[1]
List
    • Acacia alaticaulis Maslin nom. inval.
    • Acacia alaticaulis Kodela & Tindale nom. inval.
    • Acacia alaticaulis Pellow, Henwood & Carolin nom. inval.
    • Acacia sp. 35 (Howes Mountain; R.G.Coveney 4108 & R.Bis)
    • Acacia sp. A
    • Acacia sp. Howes Mountain (R.G.Coveny 4108) NSW Herbarium
    • Acacia terminalis s. lat. (winged form)
    • Acacia terminalis subsp. E
    • Acacia terminalis auct. non (Salisb.) J.F.Macbr.: Kodela, P.G. & Tindale, M.D. in Orchard, A.E. & Wilson, A.J.G.

Description

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Acacia alaticaulis is a spindly, slender shrub to small tree that typically grows to a height of up to 4 m (13 ft) and has wavy, ridged branchlets, the ridges up to 3 mm (0.12 in) wide. The leaves are winged with a rhachis 150–850 mm (5.9–33.5 in), the petiole up to 5 mm (0.20 in) long. The leaves are bipinnate, with up to 10 pairs of pinnae 12–60 mm (0.47–2.36 in) long, each with 7 to 17 pairs of oblong to narrowly oblong pinnules 2.5–22 mm (0.098–0.866 in) long and 0.9–3.6 mm (0.035–0.142 in) wide. The flowers are arranged in a raceme up to 335 mm (13.2 in) long with 8 to 41 spherical heads of flowers. Each head is more or less spherical, 7–11 mm (0.28–0.43 in) in diameter on a peduncle 5–17 mm (0.20–0.67 in) long with 6 to 16 pale yellow to cream-coloured. Flowering occurs from December to May the pod is flat, usually curved, 40–120 mm (1.6–4.7 in) long and 11–13 mm (0.43–0.51 in) wide.[2][3][4][5]

Taxonomy

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Acacia alaticaulis was first formally described in 2013 by Phillip Gerhard Kodela and Mary Tindale in the journal Telopea.[6] The specific epithet (alaticaulis) means "winged stem".[5]

Distribution

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This species of wattle is endemic to an area in eastern New South Wales[3] where it has a restricted range around Howes Mountain area and around Mount Murwin and the Yengo National Park area where it is commonly situated on hillslopes and ridges among and over sandstone bedrock or outcrops, or where areas of shale meet sandstones. It is found growing in sandy to sandy clay soils as a part of Eucalyptus woodlands or open forest communities as a part of the shrub understorey.[2][4][5]

See also

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References

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  1. ^ a b "Acacia alaticaulis". Australian Plant Census. Retrieved 28 May 2024.
  2. ^ a b "Acacia alaticaulis Kodela & Tindale (ms)". World Wide Wattle. Western Australian Herbarium. Retrieved 16 February 2020.
  3. ^ a b Kodela, Phillip G.; Harden, Gwen J. "Acacia alaticaulis". Royal Botanic Garden, Sydney. Retrieved 29 May 2024.
  4. ^ a b Kodela, Phillip G. Kodela, Phillip G. (ed.). "Acacia alaticaulis". Flora of Australia. Australian Biological Resources Study, Department of Climate Change, Energy, the Environment and Water: Canberra. Retrieved 29 May 2024.
  5. ^ a b c Kodela, Phillip G.; Tindale, Mary D. (2013). "Acacia alaticaulis and A. kulnurensis (Fabaceae, Mimosoideae), rare new species from New South Wales, Australia". Telopea. 15: 120–121. Retrieved 29 May 2024.
  6. ^ "Acacia alaticaulis". Australian Plant Name Index. Retrieved 29 May 2024.