Common name: Buffalo Wattle
Acacia kettlewelliae Maiden APNI* Synonyms: Racosperma kettlewelliae (Maiden) Pedley APNI*
Acacia oreophila Maiden & Blakely APNI*
Acacia walteri Maiden & Blakely APNI*
Description: Erect or spreading shrub or tree 2–9 m high; branchlets angled at extremities, reddish brown, glabrous.
Phyllodes ± narrowly elliptic to oblanceolate, ± straight or slightly curved, 4–10 cm long, 3–10 mm wide, green or ± glaucous, glabrous, midvein prominent, lateral veins usually obscure, apex ± acute to obtuse with a mucro; 1 gland along margin 5–15 mm from pulvinus; pulvinus 1–2 mm long.
Inflorescences 4–16 in an axillary raceme; axis 1–6 cm long; peduncles 1–5 mm long, minutely hairy or glabrous; heads globose, usually 8–11-flowered, 3.5–7 mm diam., yellow or bright yellow.
Pods ± straight or sometimes slightly curved, ± flat, ± straight-sided to barely or irregularly more deeply constricted between seeds, 3–11 cm long, 7–14 mm wide, firmly papery, glabrous, ± pruinose; seeds transverse to longitudinal; funicle short.
Flowering: September–December.
Distribution and occurrence: chiefly south from Tumut. Grows in dry sclerophyll forest and woodland, often on granite hillsides and in gullies, also river flats.
NSW subdivisions: ST
Other Australian states: Vic.
The name honours Agnes Louisa Kettlewell (1866-1936), an early official of the Wattle Day League. May be confused with Acacia decora which has golden-hairy peduncles and with A. prominens, but their ranges do not overlap. There may be hybrids between A. kettlewelliae and A. kybeanensis. A small phyllode (1-3.3 cm long, 3-5 mm wide) variant occurs in the Kybeyan Ra.
Text by P.G. Kodela (last updated June 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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