Acacia biflora

Two flowered acacia
	Illustration of Acacia biflora
Scientific classification
Kingdom:	Plantae
Clade:	Angiosperms
Clade:	Eudicots
Clade:	Rosids
Order:	Fabales
Family:	Fabaceae
Clade:	Mimosoideae
Genus:	Acacia
Species:	A. biflora
Binomial name
	Acacia biflora; R.Br. [1]
	Occurrence data from AVH

Last updated July 28, 2019

Acacia biflora, commonly known as two-flowered acacia,^[2] is a shrub belonging to the genus Acacia and the subgenus Phyllodineae.

Acacia, commonly known as the wattles or acacias, is a large genus of shrubs and trees in the subfamily Mimosoideae of the pea family Fabaceae. Initially it comprised a group of plant species native to Africa and Australia, with the first species A. nilotica described by Linnaeus. Controversy erupted in the early 2000s when it became evident that the genus as it stood was not monophyletic, and that several divergent lineages needed to be placed in separate genera. It turned out that one lineage comprising over 900 species mainly native to Australia was not closely related to the mainly African lineage that contained A. nilotica—the first and type species. This meant that the Australian lineage would need to be renamed. Botanist Les Pedley named this group Racosperma, which was inconsistently adopted. Australian botanists proposed that this would be more disruptive than setting a different type species and allowing this large number of species to remain Acacia, resulting in the two African lineages being renamed Vachellia and Senegalia, and the two New World lineages renamed Acaciella and Mariosousa. This was officially adopted, but many botanists from Africa and elsewhere disagreed that this was necessary.

Description

The prostrate to ascending, erect, open or dense shrub typically grows to a height of 0.1 to 0.5 metres (0 to 2 ft). It blooms from December to May and produces creamy-white flowers.^[3] The branchlets are shortly covered with small soft hairs to sparsely or densely puberulous. The pungent green phyllodes are inequilateral, obtriangular to obdeltoid shape. They are usually 3 to 7 millimetres (0.12 to 0.28 in) in length with a width of 3 to 8 mm (0.12 to 0.31 in) but can be longer on older branches. It has simple inflorescences with one found per axil supported on peduncles that are 3 to 8 mm (0.12 to 0.31 in) long. The heads are globular containing two white to cream flowers. Following flowering curved narrowly oblong seed pods form that are around 5.5 centimetres (2.2 in) in length and 4 to 5 mm (0.16 to 0.20 in) wide. The glossy, greyish brown oblong seeds the pods contain are 3 to 3.5 mm (0.12 to 0.14 in) long.^[4]

Phyllodes are modified petioles or leaf stems, which are leaf-like in appearance and function. In some plants, these become flattened and widened, while the leaf itself becomes reduced or vanishes altogether. Thus the phyllode comes to serve the purpose of the leaf.

An inflorescence is a group or cluster of flowers arranged on a stem that is composed of a main branch or a complicated arrangement of branches. Morphologically, it is the modified part of the shoot of seed plants where flowers are formed. The modifications can involve the length and the nature of the internodes and the phyllotaxis, as well as variations in the proportions, compressions, swellings, adnations, connations and reduction of main and secondary axes. Inflorescence can also be defined as the reproductive portion of a plant that bears a cluster of flowers in a specific pattern.

Taxonomy

The species was first formally described by the botanist Robert Brown in 1813 in the William Townsend Aiton work Hortus Kewensis.^[5] The name is often misapplied to Acacia chrysocephala .^[5]

Robert Brown FRSE FRS FLS MWS was a Scottish botanist and palaeobotanist who made important contributions to botany largely through his pioneering use of the microscope. His contributions include one of the earliest detailed descriptions of the cell nucleus and cytoplasmic streaming; the observation of Brownian motion; early work on plant pollination and fertilisation, including being the first to recognise the fundamental difference between gymnosperms and angiosperms; and some of the earliest studies in palynology. He also made numerous contributions to plant taxonomy, notably erecting a number of plant families that are still accepted today; and numerous Australian plant genera and species, the fruit of his exploration of that continent with Matthew Flinders.

William Townsend Aiton FRHS FLS was an English botanist. He was born at Kew on 2 February 1766, the eldest son of William Aiton.

Acacia chrysocephala is a shrub belonging to the genus Acacia and the subgenus Phyllodineae.

A. biflora is part of the A. biflora group of Acacias along with A. chrysocephala , A. divergens , A. incrassata , A. mooreana , A. phlebopetala and A. robinae . The species all have similar structure but can be differentiated by flower characteristics.^[4]

Acacia divergens is a shrub belonging to the genus Acacia and the subgenus Phyllodineae that is native to Western Australia.

Acacia incrassata is a shrub belonging to the genus Acacia and the subgenus Phyllodineae. It is native to an area along the west coast in the Wheatbelt regions of Western Australia.

Acacia mooreana is a shrub belonging to the genus Acacia and the subgenus Phyllodineae. It is native to an area along the south coast in the South West and Great Southern regions of Western Australia.

The specific epithet (biflora) is derived from the Latin prefix bi- meaning "two"^[6]^:141 and the Latin word flos meaning "flower".^[6]^:338

A botanical name is a formal scientific name conforming to the International Code of Nomenclature for algae, fungi, and plants (ICN) and, if it concerns a plant cultigen, the additional cultivar or Group epithets must conform to the International Code of Nomenclature for Cultivated Plants (ICNCP). The code of nomenclature covers "all organisms traditionally treated as algae, fungi, or plants, whether fossil or non-fossil, including blue-green algae (Cyanobacteria), chytrids, oomycetes, slime moulds and photosynthetic protists with their taxonomically related non-photosynthetic groups ."

Latin is a classical language belonging to the Italic branch of the Indo-European languages. The Latin alphabet is derived from the Etruscan and Greek alphabets and ultimately from the Phoenician alphabet.

Distribution

It is native to an area in the South West , Great Southern and Goldfields-Esperance regions of Western Australia where it grows in sandy to gravelly lateritic soils.^[3] The shrub is found in a large continuous distribution from the Stirling Range National Park south to the coast and then east to near Jerramungup and Bremer Bay with disjunct populations in several areas further east including around Scaddan and at Lucky Bay in Cape Le Grand National Park.^[4] It is often found as part of woodlands or low mallee scrubland communities.^[4]

The South West region is one of the nine regions of Western Australia. It is so named because it is located in the south-west corner of Western Australia. The South West region has an area of 23,970 km², and a population of about 170,000 people, which is predicted to rise to 217,000 people by 2023.

The Great Southern Region is one of the nine regions of Western Australia, as defined by the Regional Development Commissions Act 1993, for the purposes of economic development. It is a section of the larger South Coast of Western Australia and neighbouring agricultural regions.

The Goldfields-Esperance region is one of the nine regions of Western Australia. It is located in the south eastern corner of Western Australia, and comprises the local government areas of Coolgardie, Dundas, Esperance, Kalgoorlie-Boulder, Laverton, Leonora, Menzies, Ngaanyatjarraku and Ravensthorpe.

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Acacia baxteri, commonly known as Baxter's wattle, is a shrub belonging to the genus Acacia and the subgenus Phyllodineae.

Acacia blaxellii, also known as Blaxell's wattle, is a shrub belonging to the genus Acacia and the subgenus Phyllodineae endemic to Western Australia.

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References

↑ "Acacia biflora". Australian Plant Census. Retrieved 28 July 2019.
↑ "Australian Acacia biflora. Two-flowered Acacia. Wattle Paxton botanical c1840". Glenebon Pty Ltd. Retrieved 20 August 2018.
1 2 "Acacia biflora". FloraBase . Western Australian Government Department of Parks and Wildlife.
1 2 3 4 "Acacia biflora". World Wide Wattle. Western Australian Herbarium. Retrieved 20 August 2018.
1 2 "Acacia biflora R.Br". Atlas of Living Australia. Global Biodiversity Information Facility . Retrieved 20 August 2018.
1 2 Brown, Roland Wilbur (1956). The Composition of Scientific Words. Washington, D.C.: Smithsonian Institution Press.

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[APC-1] "Acacia biflora". Australian Plant Census. Retrieved 28 July 2019.

[2] "Australian Acacia biflora. Two-flowered Acacia. Wattle Paxton botanical c1840". Glenebon Pty Ltd. Retrieved 20 August 2018.

[FloraBase-3] 1 2 "Acacia biflora". FloraBase . Western Australian Government Department of Parks and Wildlife.

[www-4] 1 2 3 4 "Acacia biflora". World Wide Wattle. Western Australian Herbarium. Retrieved 20 August 2018.

[at-5] 1 2 "Acacia biflora R.Br". Atlas of Living Australia. Global Biodiversity Information Facility . Retrieved 20 August 2018.

[RWB-6] 1 2 Brown, Roland Wilbur (1956). The Composition of Scientific Words. Washington, D.C.: Smithsonian Institution Press.