Common name: Mueller's wattle
Acacia muelleriana Maiden & R.T.Baker APNI* Synonyms: Racosperma muellerianum (Maiden & R.T.Baker) Pedley APNI*
Description: Shrub or tree 1.5–8 m high; bark smooth, grey; branchlets angled to ± terete with ridges, glabrous.
Leaves with petiole mostly 1–3 cm long, glabrous, with a vertical wing, 1 gland at base of or occasionally below basal or single pair of pinnae; rachis absent or 0.7–2 cm long, glabrous, jugary glands present, interjugary glands absent; pinnae 1 or 2, rarely 3 pairs, 2–5.5 cm long; pinnules 4–10 pairs, widely spaced, ± linear, 8–37 mm long, 0.5–1.5 mm wide, glabrous.
Inflorescences in terminal panicles or sometimes axillary racemes; peduncles 1–6 mm long, glabrous; heads globose, 5–14-flowered, 3–5 mm diam., cream-coloured.
Pods straight to curved, ± flat, slightly to deeply, often irregularly, constricted between seeds, 2.5–13 cm long, 5.5–7 mm wide, thinly leathery, glabrous; seeds longitudinal; funicle filiform.
Flowering: mostly August–December.
Distribution and occurrence: north from Goonoo Forest and Mudgee district. Grows in dry sclerophyll forest, generally on sandstone.
NSW subdivisions: CWS
Other Australian states: Qld
Named after Dr Ferdinard J.H. Mueller (later Baron Sir Ferdinard von Mueller) (1825-1896), a pharmacist who became an eminent, industrious botanist after being appointed Government Botanist of Victoria in 1853 (N. Hall and L.A.S. Johnson, The Names of Acacias of New South Wales, 1993). Acacia muelleriana is distinguished by its flattened petiole and 1 or 2 pairs of pinnae. Requires assessment of its restricted distribution and conservation status.
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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