Acacia filifolia

Acacia filifolia
Conservation status
Priority Three — Poorly Known Taxa (DEC)
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. filifolia
Binomial name
Acacia filifolia Benth. [1]
Occurrence data from AVH
Synonyms [1]
Racosperma filifolium(Benth.) Pedley Acacia ephedroidesauct. non Benth.: Bentham, G. (5 October 1864), p.p.

Acacia filifolia is a species of flowering plant in the family Fabaceae and is endemic to the south-west of Western Australia. It is a wispy, spindly, single-stemmed shrub or tree with straight to winding branchlets, sessile, ascending phyllodes, more or less spherical to oblong heads of yellow flowers and linear, firmly papery pods.

Description

Acacia filifolia is an open, wispy, spindly shrub or tree that typically grows to a height of 1.2–3 m (3 ft 11 in – 9 ft 10 in) and is single stemmed or sparingly branched at the base. Its branches are straight to slightly winding with silky hairs between resin-ribs. The phyllodes are sessile, ascending, curved and four-sided in cross section, sometimes terete, 120–200 mm (4.7–7.9 in) long, 0.7–1 mm (0.028–0.039 in) wide, yellow green and glabrous. There are eight, broad, flat-topped veins, each separated by a shallow, dark coloured furrow on the phyllodes. The flowers are golden yellow and borne one or two sessile, more or less spherical to oblong heads 6–12 mm (0.24–0.47 in) long and 5–8 mm (0.20–0.31 in) wide in axils. Flowering occurs from May to September and the pods are linear, firmly papery, up to 120 mm (4.7 in) long, 2.5–3.0 mm (0.098–0.118 in) wide and densely hairy with yellowish edges. The seeds are oblong to elliptic, 3 mm (0.12 in) long and glossy, mottled grey-brown and brown with an aril more or less the same length as the seed. ^{[2] [3] [4] [5]}

Taxonomy

Acacia filifolia was first formally described in 1842 by the botanist George Bentham in William Jackson Hooker's London Journal of Botany from specimens collected in the Swan River Colony by James Drummond. ^{[6] [7]} The specific epithet (filifolia) means 'thread-leaved'. ^[8]

Distribution and habitat

This species of wattle grows in sand over laterite, mostly in shrubland in scattered populations from near Coorow and east through Wongan Hills to near Burracoppin and Southern Cross in the Avon Wheatbelt, Coolgardie and Geraldton Sandplains bioregions of south-western Western Australia. ^{[2] [3] [5]}

Conservation status

Acacia filifolia is listed as "Priority Three" by the Government of Western Australia Department of Biodiversity, Conservation and Attractions ^[5] meaning that it is poorly known and known from only a few locations but is not under imminent threat. ^[9]

See also

• List of Acacia species

References

1. "Acacia filifolia". Australian Plant Census. Retrieved 26 December 2025.
2. Chapman, Alex R.; Maslin, Bruce R. "Acacia filifolia". Flora of Australia. Australian Biological Resources Study, Department of Climate Change, Energy, the Environment and Water: Canberra. Retrieved 26 December 2025.
3. "Acacia filifolia Benth". Wattle - Acacias of Australia. Department of the Environment and Energy . Retrieved 6 August 2019.
4. "Acacia filifolia". World Wide Wattle. Retrieved 26 December 2025.
5. "Acacia filifolia". FloraBase . Western Australian Government Department of Biodiversity, Conservation and Attractions.
6. "Acacia filifolia". Australian Plant Name Index. Retrieved 26 December 2025.
7. Bentham, George (1842). "Notes on Mimoseae, with a synopsis of species". London Journal of Botany. 1: 369. Retrieved 26 December 2025.
8. George, Alex S.; Sharr, Francis A. (2023). Western Australian Plant Names and Their Meanings - A Glossary (fifth ed.). Kardinya: Four Gables Press. p. 203. ISBN   9780645629538.
9. "Conservation codes for Western Australian Flora and Fauna" (PDF). Government of Western Australia Biodiversity, Conservation and Attractions. Retrieved 26 December 2025.