Common name: golden-top wattle
Acacia mariae Pedley APNI* Synonyms: Acacia tindaleae sensu Kodela & Harden (2002) APNI*
Description: Erect or spreading shrub 1–2 m high; bark smooth, grey; branchlets angled or terete, densely appressed-hairy.
Phyllodes sometimes whorled or clustered, very narrowly elliptic to narrowly oblanceolate, straight or slightly curved, 0.4–1.3 cm long, 1–2 mm wide, appressed-hairy with silvery grey hairs, finely longitudinally wrinkled when dry, midvein obscure, apex subacute with a mucro; 1 small gland at base; pulvinus < 1 mm long.
Inflorescences simple, 1 in axil of phyllodes; peduncles 5–15 mm long, c. 0.3–0.5 mm wide, appressed- to spreading-hairy, sometimes glabrescent; heads globose, 22–38-flowered, 5–7 mm diam., bright yellow.
Pods ± straight, ± flat, mostly ± straight-sided, 3–6 cm long, 8–10.5 mm wide, thinly leathery, glabrous; seeds transverse; funicle filiform.
Flowering: July–October.
Distribution and occurrence: north from Hillston and Katoomba district and east to Hunter Valley but chiefly on the Slopes, common in the Pilliga Scrub. widespread in dry sclerophyll forest, woodland and mallee, in sandy soils.
NSW subdivisions: NC, CT, NWS, CWS, NWP, SWP
Similar to Acacia conferta which is usually less hairy and has longer, thinner and less pubescent peduncles. The name 'mariae' honours Dr Mary Douglas Tindale (1920-2011), formerly a botanist with the National Herbarium of New South Wales, where she specialised in acacias and ferns. The wattle originally honouring Dr Tindale is Acacia tindaleae, but the Type specimen with that name has been found to be a minor variant of A. conferta. This makes A. tindaleae a synonym of A. conferta, however, plants from New South Wales to which the name is usually applied (as in Kodela & Harden 2002) represent a distinct species, A. mariae (see Pedley 2006). Therefore, although the name A. tindaleae is now under A. conferta, most specimens formerly identified as A. tindaleae are A. mariae. Also, the treatment of A. tindaleae in the Flora of NSW Volume 2 (2002) applies mostly to A. mariae. An attractive hybrid, Acacia mariae x semilunata, was found in a nursery and since cultivated at Mount Annan Botanic Garden.
Text by P.G. Kodela (July 2007; last update Apr 2012)
Taxon concept: L. Pedley, Austrobaileya 7(2): 348 (2006); treated as A. tindaleae in 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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