Acacia browniana

Brown's wattle
Near Albany
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. browniana
Binomial name
Acacia browniana H.L.Wendl. [1]
Occurrence data from AVH
Synonyms [1]
Acacia ciliata R.Br. nom. illeg. p.p. Acacia strigosa Link nom. illeg., nom. superfl. Acacia strigosaLink f. strigosa Acacia strigosaLinkvar. strigosa Mimosa ciliata Poir. nom. illeg. Racosperma brownianum(H.L.Wendl.) Pedley

Acacia browniana, commonly known as Brown's wattle, ^[2] is a species of flowering plant in the family Fabaceae and is endemic to the south-west of Western Australia. It is a shrub with bipinnate leaves, cream-coloured to golden yellow flowers arranged in spherical heads, and narrowly oblong, crust-like pods.

Description

Acacia browniana is a shrub that typically grows to a height of 0.3–2 m (1 ft 0 in – 6 ft 7 in) and sometimes has hairy branchlets. The leaves are bipinnate with mostly two pairs of leaflets on a rachis 1–10 mm (0.039–0.394 in) long, the lower two pinnae usually 1–4 mm (0.039–0.157 in) long and the outer pinnae 2–30 mm (0.079–1.181 in) long. The lower pinnae have one to three pinnules and the outer pinnae two to nine pinnules, each more or less oblong, 2–10 mm (0.079–0.394 in) long and 1–4 mm (0.039–0.157 in) wide. There is a sessile gland on the rachis at the base of the pinnae. ^{[2] [3] [4]}

The flowers are borne in one or two spherical heads 4–6 mm (0.16–0.24 in) in diameter in leaf axils on a peduncle 5–20 mm (0.20–0.79 in) long. Each head has 12 to 21 cream-coloured to golden-yellow flowers. Flowering occurs in May or from July to November, and the pods are usually glabrous, crust-like, narrowly oblong, 10–45 mm (0.39–1.77 in) long and 5–9 mm (0.20–0.35 in) wide with oblong to elliptic seeds 2.5–4 mm (0.098–0.157 in) wide. ^{[2] [3] [4]}

Taxonomy

This species was first formally described in 1813 by Robert Brown who gave it the name Acacia ciliata in Hortus Kewensis ^{[5] [6]} but the name was illegitimate. In 1819, Heinrich Wendland changed the name to Acacia browniana in Flora: oder Allgemeine Botanischer Zeitund. ^{[7] [8]}

The names of five varieties of A. browniana are accepted by the Australian Plant Census:

• Acacia brownianaH.L.Wendl. var. browniana ^[9]
• Acacia browniana var. endlicheri(Meisn.) Maslin (previously known as A. endlicheri) ^[10]
• Acacia browniana var. glaucescensMaslin ^[11]
• Acacia browniana var. intermedia(E.Pritz.) Maslin (previously known as A. strigosa var. intermedia) ^[12]
• Acacia browniana var. obscura(A.DC.) Maslin (previously known as A. obscura) ^[13]

The specific epithet (browniana) honours Robert Brown. ^[14]

Distribution and habitat

Brown's wattle is found in wet areas, near streams and creeks, on flats and ridges, on hills and on granite outcrops ^[4] in the south-west of Western Australia from around Bindoon and Mogumber in the north around the coast to Augusta in the south and Manypeaks ^[3] in the Avon Wheatbelt, Esperance Plains, Jarrah Forest, Swan Coastal Plain and Warren bioregions. It grows well in sandy, loamy, gravelly soils often containing laterite. ^[4]

See also

• List of Acacia species

References

1. "Acacia browniana". Australian Plant Census. Retrieved 12 May 2025.
2. Maslin, Bruce R. Kodela, Phillip G. (ed.). "Acacia browniana". Flora of Australia. Australian Biological Resources Study, Department of Climate Change, Energy, the Environment and Water: Canberra. Retrieved 12 May 2025.
3. "Acacia browniana". WorldWideWattle. Department of Parks and Wildlife . Retrieved 27 March 2018.
4. "Acacia browniana". FloraBase . Western Australian Government Department of Biodiversity, Conservation and Attractions.
5. "Acacia ciliata". APNI. Retrieved 12 May 2025.
6. Brown, Robert (1813). Aiton, William T. (ed.). Hortus Kewensis. London: Longman, Hurst, Rees, Orme, and Brown. p. 465. Retrieved 12 May 2025.
7. "Acacia browniana". APNI. Retrieved 12 May 2025.
8. Wendland, Heinrich L. (1819). "Correspondenz". Flora oder Botanische Zeitung. 2: 139–140. Retrieved 12 May 2025.
9. "Acacia browniana var. browniana". Australian Plant Census. Retrieved 12 May 2025.
10. "Acacia browniana var. endlicheri". Australian Plant Census. Retrieved 12 May 2025.
11. "Acacia browniana var. glaucescens". Australian Plant Census. Retrieved 12 May 2025.
12. "Acacia browniana var. intermedia". Australian Plant Census. Retrieved 12 May 2025.
13. "Acacia browniana var. obscura". Australian Plant Census. Retrieved 12 May 2025.
14. Sharr, Francis Aubi; George, Alex (2019). Western Australian Plant Names and Their Meanings (3rd ed.). Kardinya, WA: Four Gables Press. p. 151. ISBN   9780958034180.