Acacia flabellifolia

Acacia flabellifolia
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. flabellifolia
Binomial name
Acacia flabellifolia W.Fitzg. [1]
Occurrence data from AVH
Synonyms [1]
Racosperma flabellifolium(W.Fitzg.) Pedley

Acacia flabellifolia is a species of flowering plant in the family Fabaceae and is endemic to the south-west of Western Australia. It is an erect, spreading, sharply pointed shrub with widely-spreading to ascending branchlets, phyllodes with one edge rounded and the other edge more or less parallel to the branchlet, spherical heads of flowers and tightly and irregularly coiled, thinly leathery pods.

Description

Acacia flabellifolia is an erect, spreading, sharply pointed shrub that typically grows to a height of 0.4–1 m (1 ft 4 in – 3 ft 3 in), its end branchlets widely spreading to ascending, rather short, hairy and with coarse spines. Its phyllodes have one edge rounded and the other edge more or less parallel to the branchlet, 6–15 mm (0.24–0.59 in) long, 4–9 mm (0.16–0.35 in) wide and broadest near or below the middle. The flowers are borne in spherical heads in axils on peduncles 4–6 mm (0.16–0.24 in) long, each head with 15 to 17 flowers. The pods are tightly and somewhat irregularly coiled so that they cannot be straightened out, 6–12 mm (0.24–0.47 in) long, 4–7 mm (0.16–0.28 in) wide, thinly leathery and glabrous ^{[2] [3] [4] [5]}

Taxonomy

Acacia flabellifolia was first formally described in 1904 by the botanist William Vincent Fitzgerald in the Journal of the West Australian Natural History Society from specimens he found near Arrino in 1903. ^{[6] [7]} The specific epithet (flabellifolia) means 'small fan-leaved'. ^[8]

This wattle is a part of the Acacia pravifolia group and is most closely related to Acacia scalena . It also resembles Acacia dilatata but is less closely related. ^[4]

Distribution and habitat

This species of wattle grows on low hills and ridges in rocky loam and gravelly soils near Yandanooka and Watheroo in open woodland in the Avon Wheatbelt and Geraldton Sandplains biogerions of south-western Western Australia. ^{[4] [5]}

Conservation status

Acacia flabellifolia is listed as "Priority Three" by the Government of Western Australia Department of Parks and Wildlife, ^[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 flabellifolia". Australian Plant Census. Retrieved 26 December 2025.
2. Maslin, Bruce R. Orchard, Anthony E. (ed.). "Acacia flabellifolia". Flora of Australia. Australian Biological Resources Study, Department of Climate Change, Energy, the Environment and Water: Canberra. Retrieved 5 January 2026.
3. "Acacia flabellifolia". Australian Biological Resources Study. Retrieved 5 January 2026.
4. "Acacia flabellifolia". World Wide Wattle. Western Australian Herbarium. 24 April 2019.
5. "Acacia flabellifolia". FloraBase . Western Australian Government Department of Biodiversity, Conservation and Attractions.
6. "Acacia flabellifolia". Australian Plant Name Index. Retrieved 5 January 2026.
7. Fitzgerald, William V. (1904). "Additions to the West Australian Flora". Journal of the West Australian Natural History Society. 2 (1): 11–12. Retrieved 5 January 2026.
8. George, Alex S.; Sharr, Francis A. (2023). Western Australian Plant Names and Their Meanings - A Glossary (fifth ed.). Kardinya: Four Gables Press. p. 204. ISBN   9780645629538.
9. "Conservation codes for Western Australian Flora and Fauna" (PDF). Government of Western Australia Department of Parks and Wildlife. Retrieved 5 January 2026.