Acacia gunnii

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Ploughshare wattle
Ploughshare wattle (2888769325).jpg
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. gunnii
Binomial name
Acacia gunnii
Acacia gunniiDistMap411.png
Occurrence data from AVH
Synonyms [1]
  • Acacia gunnii var. angustifoliaBenth.
  • Acacia gunniiBenth. var. gunnii
  • Acacia gunnii var. hirsutiorBenth.
  • Acacia vomeriformis A.Cunn. ex Benth.
  • Racosperma gunnii(Benth.) Pedley

Acacia gunnii, commonly known as ploughshare wattle or dog's tooth wattle, [2] is a species of flowering plant in the family Fabaceae and is endemic to south-eastern Australia. It is a diffuse, prostrate or erect shrub with more or less sessile, variably shaped phyllodes, usually with a rigid, sharply pointed rounded or triangular angle on the upper edge, spherical heads of cream-coloured to pale yellow flowers and firmly papery to thinly leathery, dark brown to blackish pods.

Contents

Description

Acacia gunnii is a diffuse, prostrate or erect shrub that typically grows to a height of up to 1 m (3 ft 3 in) and usually has hairy branchlets. Its phyllodes are more or less sessile and variably shaped, 4–15 mm (0.16–0.59 in) long and 1.5–4 mm (0.059–0.157 in) wide, usually with a sharply pointed, rigid, rounded or triangular angle on the upper edge near or below the middle. There are persistent stipules at the base of the phyllodes. The flowers are borne in a spherical heads in axils on a peduncle 4–10 mm (0.16–0.39 in) long, each head with 20 to 30 cream-coloured to pale yellow flowers. Flowering usually occurs between July and October, and the pods are firmly papery to thinly leathery, up to 40 mm (1.6 in) long and 4–5 mm (0.16–0.20 in) wide, dark brown to blackish and glabrous. The seeds are broadly elliptic to spherical, about 3 mm (0.12 in) long and lack an aril. [2] [3] [4] [5]

Taxonomy

Acacia gunnii was first formally described in 1855 by George Bentham in Hooker's London of Botany. [6] [7] The specific epithet (gunnii) honours Ronald Campbell Gunn, who collected the lectotype in Tasmania in the 1830's. [2]

Distribution and habitat

Ploughshare wattle is widespread and locally abundant in eastern Australia on the Great Dividing Range and its associated slopes from the Grampians in Victoria, [4] through New South Wales [3] and the Australian Capital Territory [3] to near Stanthorpe in Queensland where it grows in open Eucalyptus forest. [2] It also occurs in the far south-east of South Australia, [8] and in Tasmania where it also grows in coastal heath. [9]

See also

References

  1. 1 2 "Acacia gunnii". Australian Plant Census. Retrieved 15 February 2026.
  2. 1 2 3 4 Maslin, Bruce R. "Acacia gunnii". Flora of Australia. Australian Biological Resources Study, Department of Climate Change, Energy, the Environment and Water: Canberra. Retrieved 15 February 2026.
  3. 1 2 3 "Acacia gunnii". PlantNET - New South Wales Flora Online. Royal Botanic Gardens & Domain Trust, Sydney Australia. Retrieved 31 August 2009.
  4. 1 2 "Flora of Victoria". vicflora.rbg.vic.gov.au. Retrieved 21 February 2023.
  5. ↑ "Acacia gunnii". Australian Biological Resources Study. Retrieved 15 February 2026.
  6. ↑ "Acacia gunnii". Australian Plant Name Index. Retrieved 15 February 2026.
  7. ↑ Bentham, George; Hooker, William Jackson (1842). "Notes on Mimoseae, with a synopsis of species". London Journal of Botany. 1: 332. Retrieved 15 February 2026.
  8. ↑ "Acacia gunnii". Seeds of South Australia. Retrieved 15 February 2026.
  9. ↑ Jordan, Greg. "Acacia gunnii". University of Tasmania. Retrieved 15 February 2026.
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