Biology:Acacia homaloclada

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Short description: Species of legume

Hitchinbrook wattle
Scientific classification edit
Kingdom: Plantae
Clade: Tracheophytes
Clade: Angiosperms
Clade: Eudicots
Clade: Rosids
Order: Fabales
Family: Fabaceae
Subfamily: Caesalpinioideae
Clade: Mimosoid clade
Genus: Acacia
Species:
A. homaloclada
Binomial name
Acacia homaloclada
F.Muell.
Acacia homalocladaDistMap439.png
Occurrence data from AVH

Acacia homaloclada, also commonly known as Hitchinbrook wattle,[1] is a shrub of the genus Acacia and the subgenus Plurinerves that is endemic to north eastern Australia . It is listed as vulnerable according to the 1992 Nature Conservation Act.[1]

Description

The glabrous shrub typically grows to a height of up to 5 m (16 ft) and has a spindly habit. It has branchlets that are flattened towards the extremities with pink coloured new shoots. Like most species of Acacia it has phyllodes rather than true leaves. The thin and evergreen phyllodes have a lanceolate to narrowly elliptic shape with a length of 6 to 12 cm (2.4 to 4.7 in) and a width of 9 to 20 mm (0.35 to 0.79 in) and have three prominent, longitudinal main nerves with few minor nerves. It blooms between November and December producing yellow coloured flowers.[2]

Taxonomy

The species was first formally described by the botanist Ferdinand von Mueller in 1878 as a part of the work Fragmenta Phytographiae Australiae. It was reclassified as Racosperma homalocladum by Leslie Pedley in 1987 then transferred back to genus Acacia in 2001.[3]

Distribution

The shrub has a limited range in north Queensland from around Ingham including Hinchinbrook Island where it is not common. It is usually found along watercourses as a part of open Eucalypt woodland communities growing in sandy soils.[2]

See also

References

Wikidata ☰ Q15287339 entry