Acacia blakelyi

Acacia blakelyi
In Mount Annan Botanic Garden
Scientific classification
Kingdom:	Plantae
Clade:	Tracheophytes
Clade:	Angiosperms
Clade:	Eudicots
Clade:	Rosids
Order:	Fabales
Family:	Fabaceae
Subfamily:	Caesalpinioideae
Clade:	Mimosoid clade
Genus:	Acacia
Species:	A. blakelyi
Binomial name
Acacia blakelyi Maiden [1]
Occurrence data from AVH
Synonyms [1]
Racosperma blakelyi(Maiden) Pedley

Fruiting pods

Acacia blakelyi is a species of flowering plant in the family Fabaceae and is endemic to the south-west of Western Australia. It is an often dense, glabrous shrub or tree with flattened, linear to very narrowly elliptic phyllodes, spherical heads of bright golden-yellow flowers, and narrowly elliptic pods.

Description

Acacia blakelyi is an often dense, glabrous shrub or tree that typically grows to a height of 1–3 m (3 ft 3 in – 9 ft 10 in). Its branchlets are bendy, often covered with a white, powdery bloom. The phyllodes are flattened, linear to very narrowly elliptic, 70–150 mm (2.8–5.9 in) long and 2–15 mm (0.079–0.591 in) wide, green or glaucous. The is a stipule at the base of the phyllode that falls off as the phyllodes mature. The flowers are borne in spherical heads in three to six headed racemes on a peduncle 7–15 mm (0.28–0.59 in) long, each head 7–8 mm (0.28–0.31 in) in diameter with 20 to 30 bright golden-yellow flowers. Flowering occurs from July to September and the pods are more or less like a strings of beads, straight to slightly curved, thinly leathery to crust-like, up to 160 mm (6.3 in) long and 4–5 mm (0.16–0.20 in) wide containing shiny black seeds 5.5–7 mm (0.22–0.28 in) long with a yellowish-brown aril. ^{[2] [3] [4]}

Taxonomy

Acacia blakelyi was first formally described in 1917 by Joseph Maiden in the Journal and Proceedings of the Royal Society of New South Wales from specimens he collected near Mingenew in 1909. ^{[5] [6]} The specific epithet (blakelyi) honours William Blakely. ^[6]

Distribution

This species of wattle grows in sand on beaches, on sandplains or in woodland or shrubland between Cooloomia Nature Reserve about 70 km (43 mi) north of Kalbarri, and Regans Ford and Piawaning, in the Avon Wheatbelt, Geraldton Sandplains, Jarrah Forest, Swan Coastal Plain and Yalgoo bioregions of south-western Western Australia. ^{[4] [3]}

Conservation status

Acacia blakelyi is listed as "not threatened" by the Government of Western Australia Department of Biodiversity, Conservation and Attractions. ^[4]

See also

• List of Acacia species

References

1. "Acacia blakelyi". Australian Plant Census. Retrieved 23 April 2025.
2. Maslin, Bruce R. Rogers, Julia; Kodela, Phillip G.; Orchard, Anthony E. (eds.). "Acacia blakelyi". Flora of Australia. Australian Biological Resources Study, Department of Climate Change, Energy, the Environment and Water: Canberra. Retrieved 23 April 2025.
3. "Acacia blakelyi". World Wide Wattle. Western Australian Herbarium. Retrieved 2 September 2018.
4. "Acacia blakelyi". FloraBase . Western Australian Government Department of Biodiversity, Conservation and Attractions.
5. "Acacia blakelyi". APNI. Retrieved 23 April 2025.
6. Maiden, Joseph (1917). "Notes on Acacia, No. III. — extra-tropical Western Australia (including descriptions of new species)". Journal and Proceedings of the Royal Society of New South Wales. 51: 246–248. Retrieved 23 April 2025.