Common name: a wattle
Acacia pedina Kodela & Tame APNI* Synonyms: Racosperma pedinum (Kodela & Tame) Pedley APNI*
Description: Erect or spreading tree or shrub 2–7 m high; bark smooth or shallowly fissured, grey; branchlets terete to subterete, glabrous.
Phyllodes dimorphic, obovate to oblanceolate, ± straight to slightly curved, 5–12 cm long, 12–43 mm wide, grey-green, glabrous, midvein prominent, lateral veins ± conspicuous (on drying), margins vein-like, apex broadly obtuse, base asymmetric, 1 or 2 glands along margin; pulvinus 3–6 mm long; phyllodes on young growth ± broadly elliptic, to 80 mm wide.
Inflorescences 3–19 per axis in axillary and terminal racemes or panicles; axis 1–9 cm long; peduncles 2–5 mm long, glabrous; heads globose to slightly ovoid, 25–40-flowered, 6–8 mm diam., yellow to bright yellow.
Pods straight to slightly curved, ± flat except raised over seeds, barely or slightly and often irregularly constricted between seeds with occasional deeper constrictions, to 12 cm long, 5–7.5 mm wide, firmly papery to thinly leathery, ± smooth or slightly rough, sometimes with few veins, glabrous; seeds longitudinal; funicle expanded towards seed.
Flowering: July–October.
Distribution and occurrence: between Bermagui and Tathra; rare. Grows in sclerophyll forest near coast.
NSW subdivisions: SC
The specific epithet is derived from the Greek 'pedinos', pertaining to the blade of an oar, since the phyllodes, particularly the large juvenile/intermediate phyllodes, of this species are often more or less paddle-shaped. Acacia pedina is closely related to the more widespread Acacia pycnantha, which generally has longer, falcate phyllodes and larger flower heads. See P.G. Kodela & T.M. Tame, Telopea 8(3): 305–309 (1999) for more information.
Text by P.G. Kodela (last updated July 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.
|
