Cole's wattle | |
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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. colei |
Binomial name | |
Acacia colei | |
Range of Acacia colei | |
Synonyms | |
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Acacia colei is a perennial bush or tree native to northern Australia and southern Asia. A common name for it is Cole's wattle. Acacia colei blooms from May through September and the flowers are bright yellow. [2] [3]
The Walmajarri people in the Kimberley call this wattle, Parta. [4]
The shrub typically grows to a height of 2 to 4 m (6 ft 7 in to 13 ft 1 in) or is found sometimes as a tree up heights of around 9 m (30 ft) usually with a spreading habit. It has sericeous new shoots with pale yellow-brown hairs that age to have a silvery colour. The acutely angled branchlets are silvery-sericeous. The silvery-green to grey-green phyllodes usually have an obliquely narrowly elliptic shape that is more or less straight but often shallowly recurved at the apice. The phyllodes are around 11 to 20 cm (4.3 to 7.9 in) in length and have a width of 1 to 5.5 cm (0.39 to 2.17 in) and have a knob shaped mucro. The rudimentary inflorescences occur in pairs in the racemes and have a axes length of 0.5 mm (0.020 in). The golden flower spikes are 3.5 to 6 cm (1.4 to 2.4 in) in length with hairy petals. The seed pods that form later are openly and strongly curved or tightly and irregularly coiled or twisted with twisted dehisced valves. The glabrous pods have a width of 3.5 to 4 mm (0.14 to 0.16 in) and are thinly coriaceous to crustaceous. The glossy brown to black coloured seeds within the pods have an oblong shape and are 4 to 4.5 mm (0.16 to 0.18 in) in length with a bright yellow aril. [5]
The species was first formally described by the botanists Bruce Maslin and L.A.J.Thomson in 1992 in the work Re-appraisal of the taxonomy of Acacia holosericea, including the description of a new species, A. colei, and the reinstatement of A. neurocarpa published in the journal Australian Systematic Botany. It was reclassified as Racosperma colei by Leslie Pedley in 2003 then returned to genus Acacia in 2006. The species is commonly confused with Acacia holosericea which it closely resembles. [6]
There are two varieties:
The plant is found throughout northern Australia between latitudes of 16°S and 22°S from the Pilbara and Kimberley regions of Western Australia in the west extending east through the Tanami Desert and Great Sandy Deserts in the Northern Territory and into the Simpson Desert and Gulf Country of western Queensland. [5] It is well adapted to an arid environment and is found in a variety of habitat including stony hills and ridges, sandplains, floodplains and along drainage lines growing in stony, sandy, clay-loam soils. [3]
Its uses include environmental management, forage and wood. [1] The seeds are good-tasting [7] and are potentially useful as food for humans. The results of tests in Nigeria for the feasibility of raising the tree as a drought-resistant food crop came out very positively. [5]
Several recent reports of up to 1.8% dimethyltryptamine in bark. [8]
Acacia inaequilatera, commonly known as kanji bush, baderi, camel bush, fire wattle, kanyji bush or ranji bush is a tree in the family Mimosaceae. Endemic to Australia, it is widely distributed in the semi-arid Triodia country eastwards from Karratha, Western Australia into the Northern Territory.
Acacia holosericea is a shrub native to tropical and inland northern Australia. It is commonly known as soapbush wattle, soapbush, strap wattle, candelabra wattle, silver wattle and silky wattle.
Acacia monticola, commonly known as red wattle, gawar, curly-bark wattle, curly-bark tree and hill turpentine, is a species of plant in the legume family that is native to northern Australia.
Acacia ancistrocarpa, commonly known as fitzroy wattle, is a shrub belonging to the genus Acacia and the subgenus Juliflorae. The shrub is also known as fish hook wattle, pindan wattle and shiny leaved wattle.
Acacia arcuatilis is a shrub belonging to the genus Acacia and the subgenus Juliflorae that is endemic to south western parts of Australia.
Acacia elachantha is a shrub belonging to the genus Acacia and the subgenus Juliflorae. It is native to arid parts of central and northern Australia.
Acacia heteroneura is a shrub belonging to the genus Acacia and the subgenus Juliflorae that is endemic to western Australia.
Acacia hilliana, commonly known as Hill's tabletop wattle but also known as sandhill wattle and Hilltop wattle, is a shrub belonging to the genus Acacia and the subgenus Juliflorae. It is native to northern Australia.
Acacia jamesiana is a tree or shrub belonging to the genus Acacia and the subgenus Juliflorae that is endemic central parts of western Australia.
Acacia latifolia is a shrub belonging to the genus Acacia and the subgenus Juliflorae that is endemic to tropical parts of northern Australia.
Acacia neurocarpa is a shrub or tree belonging to the genus Acacia and the subgenus Juliflorae that is endemic to northern Australia.
Acacia ptychophylla is a shrub belonging to the genus Acacia and the subgenus Juliflorae the is endemic to arid areas of north western Australia.
Acacia rhodophloia, commonly known as minni ritchi or western red mulga, is a tree or shrub belonging to the genus Acacia and the subgenus Juliflorae that is endemic to a large area of arid central western Australia. The Indigenous group the Kurrama peoples know the plant as mantaru.
Acacia seclusa, commonly known as saw range wattle, is a small tree belonging to the genus Acacia and the subgenus Juliflorae that is endemic to northern Australia.
Acacia thomsonii, commonly known as Thomson's wattle, is a shrub or tree belonging to the genus Acacia and the subgenus Juliflorae that native to parts of northern Australia.
Acacia dunnii, commonly known as elephant ear wattle or Dunn's wattle, is a shrub or tree of the genus Acacia and the subgenus Plurinerves.
Acacia multisiliqua is a shrub or tree of the genus Acacia and the subgenus Plurinerves that is endemic to northern Australia.
Acacia pharangites, commonly known as Wongan gully wattle, is a shrub of the genus Acacia and the subgenus Plurinerves that is endemic to the Wongan Hills of south western Australia and is listed as endangered according to the Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation Act 1999.
Acacia phlebocarpa, also known as tabletop wattle, is a shrub of the genus Acacia and the subgenus Plurinerves and is native to northern Australia.
Acacia warramaba is a shrub of the genus Acacia and the subgenus Plurinerves that is endemic to an area of south western Australia.