Acacia donaldsonii

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Acacia donaldsonii
Scientific classification OOjs UI icon edit-ltr.svg
Kingdom: Plantae
Clade: Tracheophytes
Clade: Angiosperms
Clade: Eudicots
Clade: Rosids
Order: Fabales
Family: Fabaceae
Subfamily: Caesalpinioideae
Clade: Mimosoid clade
Genus: Acacia
Species:
A. donaldsonii
Binomial name
Acacia donaldsonii
Acacia donaldsoniiDistMap303.png
Occurrence data from AVH
Synonyms [1]

Racosperma donaldsonii(R.S.Cowan & Maslin) Pedley

Acacia donaldsonii, commonly known as Binneringie wattle, [2] is a species of flowering plant in the family Fabaceae and is endemic to the inland areas of Western Australia. It is a shrub or or gnarled tree with hairy, resinous branchlets, ascending to erect, terete phyllodes, spherical heads of golden yellow flowers and leathery, linear pods resembling a string of beads.

Contents

Description

Acacia donaldsonii is a shrub or gnarled tree that typically grows to a height of 1.5–5 m (5–16 ft) and has terete, hairy branchlets that are scarred by raised stem-projections where phyllodes have fallen. Its phyllodes are ascending to erect, terete, 60–145 mm (2.4–5.7 in) long and 1.5–2.5 mm (0.059–0.098 in) in diameter with an awl-shaped or sharply pointed end. The flowers are borne in two or more spherical heads in axils on peduncles 5–15 mm (0.20–0.59 in) long, each head 4–5 mm (0.16–0.20 in) in diameter with 30 to 56 golden yellow flowers. The pods are leathery, resemble a string of beads, or linear, up to 140 mm (5.5 in) long and 6–10 mm (0.24–0.39 in) wide, curved and twisted after the seeds are lost. The seeds are elliptic to oblong, 6.5–9 mm (0.26–0.35 in) long, dull brown, with a club-shaped to hemispherical aril. [2] [3] [4] [5]

Taxonomy

Acacia donaldsonii was first formally described in 1999 by the botanists Richard Sumner Cowan and Bruce Maslin in the journal Nuytsia from specimens collected on Weebo Station in 1988. [3] [6] The specific epithet (donaldsonii) honours Michael Donaldson, "a mining engineer working near Kalgoorlie, Western Australia", who brought this species to the attention of Cowan and Maslin in early 1988. [2]

Distribution and habitat

Binneringie wattle occurs on pastoral stations from Lake Yindarlgooda and south to Norseman and near Carlisle Lakes in the Coolgardie, Great Victoria Desert, Murchison and Nullarbor bioregions of southern Western Australia, where it grows in sandy, clayey and gravelly loam on sandplains, salty, stony plains and near salt lakes with species of Atriplex and Maireana . [4] [7]

Conservation status

Acacia donaldsonii is listed as "not threatened" by the Government of Western Australia Department of Biodiversity, Conservation and Attractions. [7]

See also

References

  1. 1 2 "Acacia donaldsonii". Australian Plant Census. Retrieved 14 October 2025.
  2. 1 2 3 Cowan, Richard S. "Acacia donaldsonii". Flora of Australia. Australian Biological Resources Study, Department of Climate Change, Energy, the Environment and Water: Canberra. Retrieved 14 October 2025.
  3. 1 2 Cowan, Richard S.; Maslin, Bruce R. (1999). "Acacia miscellany 18. The taxonomy of miscellaneous species with sharply pungent phyllodes in Acacia section Plurinerves (Leguminosae: Mimosoideae)". Nuytsia. 12 (3): 458–460. Retrieved 14 October 2025.
  4. 1 2 "Acacia donaldsonii". World Wide Wattle. Western Australian Herbarium . Retrieved 13 November 2020.
  5. ↑ "Acacia donaldsonii". Australian Biological Resources Study. Retrieved 14 October 2025.
  6. ↑ "Acacia donaldsonii". APNI. Retrieved 14 October 2025.
  7. 1 2 "Acacia donaldsonii". FloraBase . Western Australian Government Department of Biodiversity, Conservation and Attractions.
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