| Acacia elachantha | |
|---|---|
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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. elachantha |
| Binomial name | |
| Acacia elachantha | |
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| Occurrence data from AVH | |
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.
The shrub is open and spindly and typically grows to a height of 1 to 5 metres (3 to 16 ft). It blooms from July to October producing yellow flowers. [1] The main branches coming from the base are ascending to erect, crowns have sparse foliage are normally open and spreading. The bark on most branches is smooth thin and grey but it does darken and become longitudinally fissured at base of the main mature stems. The silvery to silvery blue-green phyllodes are falcately recurved over their entire length. Each phyllode is 8 to 19.5 centimetres (3 to 8 in) in length and 7 to 22 millimetres (0.3 to 0.9 in) wide. There are one or two simple inflorescences on each axil forming light golden flower spikes that are 15 to 33 mm (0.6 to 1.3 in) with flowers densely arranged within. Following flowering red-brown to dark brown linear seed pods form. Each pod is 4 to 11 mm (0.16 to 0.43 in) long and 3 to 4 mm (0.12 to 0.16 in) and are straight to shallowly curved. The seeds within are obloid and dark brown to black with a yellow anil. [2]
A. elachantha is a fast growing but short-lived species usually dies after five years. It that regenerates rapidly from the large quantities of seed that it produces from an early age. [2]
The species was first formally described by the botanists Bruce Maslin and Maurice McDonald in 1997 in the work A reappraisal of Acacia cowleana and allied taxa, including the description of a new species, A. elachantha, from the tropical dry-zone of Australia as published in the journal Australian Systematic Botany. [3] The type specimen was collected in 1995 by McDonald and P.A.Butcher west of the Cuddapan turn off along Birdsville–Windorah road. [4]
The only synonym is Racosperma elachanthum as described by Leslie Pedley but the name is often misapplied to Acacia cowleana . [3]
The species name is taken from the Greek words elachys meaning small or little and anthos meaning flower referring to the smaller flower spikes compared to its closest relative A. cowleana. [2]
In Western Australia it is found in the Kimberley and Pilbara regions where it has a scattered distribution. [1] It is also found throughout the Northern Territory [2] extending as far east as central and south west Queensland [5] [2] and into the far north east South Australia. [6] [2] The shrub grows mainly on sandplains in deep red sand or sandy loam soils but also occurs along watercourses or drainage lines, and on low rocky hills or lateritic plains in often skeletal soils. It is often found in disturbed areas such as road verges. [2] It is often part of tall open shrubland communities or in low open woodlands along with species of Eucalyptus . [7]
A. elachantha can be used for soil rehabilitation as it is drought tolerant, fast growing and grows well in poor soils. [7] The seed of the plant is edible and high nutritious. The bark contains tannins and are astringent and could be used to treat diarrhoea and dysentery. The gum can also be taken to treat diarrhoea and haemorrhoids. The wood can be used for light construction, as fuel or to make charcoal. [7] It also useful as a nitrogen fixing plant. [7]
The Walmajarri people of the Paruku IPA in the Kimberley call this wattle Parta. [8]
Acacia colei is a perennial bush or tree native to northern Australia. A common name for it is Cole's wattle. It grows to 2 to 4 metres tall and has yellow flowers.
Acacia leptocarpa, commonly known as north coast wattle, is a shrub or small tree native to New Guinea and coastal regions of northern Australia.
Acacia adoxa, commonly known as the grey-whorled wattle, is a species of flowering plant in the family Fabaceae and is endemic to north-western Australia. It is a dense, low-lying shrub with linear, more or less cylindrical phyllodes in whorls of 6 to 10, heads of golden-yellow flowers, and flat, sticky pods.
Acacia ancistrocarpa, commonly known as Fitzroy wattle or pirrara, sometimes also fish hook wattle, pindan wattle or shiny leaved wattle, is a species of flowering plant in the family Fabaceae and is endemic to north-western Australia. The Walmajarri people of the Paruku IPA in the Kimberley call this wattle, kampuka. It is a multi-stemmed, fastigiate shrub, with linear or very narrow elliptic phyllodes, spikes of golden-yellow flowers, and narrowly oblong or cultrate pods up to 60–115 mm (2.4–4.5 in) long.
Acacia areolata is a species of flowering plant in the family Fabaceae and is endemic to the Northern Kimberley region of Western Australia. It is a spreading shrub with curved phyllodes, racemes of one or two spikes of yellow flowers in axils, and narrowly oblong to oblong pods up to 75 mm (3.0 in) long.
Acacia arida, commonly known as arid wattle or false melaleuca, is a species of flowering plant in the family Fabaceae and is endemic to the Kimberley region of Western Australia. It is a multi-stemmed, glabrous shrub with linear to narrowly oblong phyllodes, cylindrical spikes of golden yellow flowers, and linear pods up to 70 mm (2.8 in) long.
Acacia atkinsiana, commonly known as Atkin's wattle, is a shrub belonging to the genus Acacia and the subgenus Juliflorae endemic to Australia. The indigenous peoples of the area where the shrub is found, the Kurrama peoples, know the shrub as Bilari or Pilarri.
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 pachycarpa is a tree or shrub belonging to the genus Acacia and the subgenus Juliflorae that is endemic to central and western parts of northern 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 tenuissima, commonly known as narrow-leaved wattle, broom wattle, minyana, slender mulga or slender wattle, is a shrub belonging to the genus Acacia and the subgenus Juliflorae endemic to temperate and tropical areas of Australia. Indigenous Australians the Kurrama peoples know the plant as Janangungu and the Banyjima know it as Murruthurru.
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 ampliceps, commonly known as salt wattle or spring wattle, is a species of flowering plant in the family Fabaceae and is endemic to the north-west of Australia. It is a large, bushy shrub or small tree with often pendulous branches, pendulous, linear to lance-shaped phyllodes, white to cream-coloured flowers arranged in spherical heads, and pods up to 115 mm (4.5 in) long.
Acacia aphanoclada, also known as Nullagine ghost wattle, is a species of flowering plant in the family Fabaceae and is endemic to a small area in the Pilbara region of Western Australia. It is a glabrous wispy shrub with narrowly linear phyllodes, racemes of spherical heads of golden flowers, and narrowly oblong, papery pods up to 60–70 mm (2.4–2.8 in) long.
Acacia dictyophleba, also known as the sandhill wattle, waxy wattle, feather veined wattle, and spear tree, is a shrub belonging to the genus Acacia and the subgenus Phyllodineae, found in Australia. The Nyangumarta peoples know the plant as Langkur or Lungkun; the Thalanyji know it as Jabandi; and the Pintupi know it as mulyati.
Acacia melleodora, commonly known as scented wax wattle, waxy wattle, honey wattle or honey scented wattle, is a shrub belonging to the genus Acacia and the subgenus Phyllodineae that is endemic to arid parts of central Australia.
Acacia anaticeps, also known as duck-headed wattle, is a species of flowering plant in the family Fabaceae and is endemic to northern Western Australia. It is a shrubby tree with corky bark, curved, egg-shaped to elliptic phyllodes, racemes or panicles of heads each with 4 to 7 cream-coloured flowers, and curved pods resembling a string of beads.
Acacia arrecta, commonly known as yarnda nyirra wattle or Fortescue wattle, is a species of flowering plant in the family Fabaceae and is endemic to the Pilbara region of Western Australia. It is a compact, spreading shrub with curved, phyllodes that are round in cross-section, spherical heads of bright yellow flowers, and rigid, linear pods up to 55 mm (2.2 in) long.
Acacia retivenea, commonly known as the net-veined wattle, is a shrub of the genus Acacia and the subgenus Plurinerves that is endemic across northern Australia.
Acacia sericophylla is a shrub or tree commonly known as the desert dogwood, desert oak or cork-bark wattle. To the Indigenous Australian people of the Pilbara, the Nyangumarta peoples, it is known as Pirrkala. The species is of the genus Acacia and the subgenus Plurinerves.