Common name: Warrumbungle Range wattle
Acacia forsythii Maiden & Blakely APNI* Synonyms: Racosperma forsythii (Maiden & Blakely) Pedley APNI*
Description: Erect or spreading shrub 1.5–4 m high; branchlets pendent, angled at extremities, glabrous, reddish.
Phyllodes narrowly oblanceolate to ± linear, straight or slightly curved, 6–9 cm long, 2–5 mm wide, glabrous, midvein ± prominent, lateral veins obscure and longitudinally anastomosing, margins often thickened and reddish, apex obtuse with a mucro; 1 small gland mostly 4–14 mm above pulvinus (the gland on some phyllodes may be closer with a lower limit of c. 2 mm above pulvinus); pulvinus < 2 mm long.
Inflorescences 5–10 in an axillary raceme; axis mostly 2–4 cm long; peduncles 4–7 mm long, glabrous; heads globose, 20–30-flowered, 3.5–6 mm diam., yellow or bright yellow.
Pods straight to slightly curved, flat, mostly ± straight-sided to barely constricted between seeds, 5–9 cm long, 5–7 mm wide, firmly papery to thinly leathery, glabrous; seeds longitudinal; funicle filiform, ± encircling seed, red.
Flowering: mainly December–January, sometimes as early as October and into March.
Distribution and occurrence: chiefly at higher altitudes in the Warrumbungle Mtns. Grows in dry sclerophyll forest; rare, confined to sheltered sites.
NSW subdivisions: NWS
Named after William Forsyth (1864-1910), who had worked as a gardener in the Botanic Gardens Sydney and later became overseer of Centennial Park. Acacia forsythii resembles A. adunca and A. flocktoniae which both have longer and narrower phyllodes with a different venation.
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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