Common name: motherumbah, motherum-bung
Acacia cheelii Blakely APNI* Synonyms: Racosperma cheelii (Blakely) Pedley APNI*
Description: Erect or spreading shrub or tree to 7 m high or sometimes taller; bark finely fissured, flaky or ribbony, brownish to reddish brown; branchlets angled or flattened, becoming terete, glabrous, often pruinose.
Phyllodes ± narrowly elliptic, mostly subfalcate or falcate, 6–23 cm long, usually 10–30 mm wide (range 6–35 mm wide), glaucous, glabrous, longitudinal veins numerous, closely spaced, non-anastomosing, 3–6 more prominent, (4-) 5–10 veins per mm (minor veins may be variabiably spaced in the same phyllode), apex subacute or obtuse with a mucro; 1 inconspicuous gland at base; pulvinus usually 3–6 mm long.
Inflorescences 1–3 on an axillary axis 2–12 mm long; peduncles 1–4 mm long, often sparsely hairy or scurfy; heads cylindrical, 3–6 cm long, bright yellow.
Pods straight to slightly curved, ± flat except over seeds, slightly constricted between seeds, usually 5–15 cm long (some pods may be as short as 2.5 cm long), 3–5 mm wide, firmly papery to thinly leathery, smooth to longitudinally wrinkled when dry, sometimes pruinose, usually with sparse fine hairs mainly at the base, apex and along margins, otherwise ± glabrous; seeds longitudinal; funicle folded, expanding towards seed forming an aril.
Flowering: August–November.
Distribution and occurrence: chiefly north and west from the upper Hunter Valley (Murrurundi area), west to the Warrumbungle Mtns and Pilliga Scrub and north to Warialda and Torrington districts, also Glen Davis-Capertee area. Grows in dry sclerophyll forest and scrub on rocky ridges, often in sandy soils.
NSW subdivisions: NT, CT, NWS, CWS, NWP
Named in honour of Edwin Cheel (1871-1951), formerly of the National Herbarium of New South Wales, Sydney.
Text by P.G. Kodela (last updated May 2012)
Taxon concept: P.G. Kodela & G.J. Harden, Flora of NSW Vol. 2 (2002)
APNI* Provides a link to the Australian Plant Name Index (hosted by the Australian National Botanic Gardens) for comprehensive bibliographic data
***The AVH map option provides a detailed interactive Australia wide distribution map drawn from collections held by all major Australian herbaria participating in the Australian Virtual Herbarium project.
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