Acacia orthocarpa

Last updated

Acacia orthocarpa
Scientific classification Red Pencil Icon.png
Kingdom: Plantae
Clade: Tracheophytes
Clade: Angiosperms
Clade: Eudicots
Clade: Rosids
Order: Fabales
Family: Fabaceae
Subfamily: Caesalpinioideae
Clade: Mimosoid clade
Genus: Acacia
Species:
A. orthocarpa
Binomial name
Acacia orthocarpa
Acacia orthocarpaDistMap660.png
Occurrence data from AVH

Acacia orthocarpa, also commonly known as Pilbara weeping wattle, needle-leaf wattle or straight-podded wattle, is a shrub or tree belonging to the genus Acacia and the subgenus Juliflorae that is endemic to tropical parts of northern Australia. The indigenous Nyangumarta peoples know it as yartupu. [1]

Contents

Description

The erect, spreading and spindly shrub or small tree typically grows to a height of 0.9 to 4 metres (3 to 13 ft) [2] with a diffuse and often weeping habit but sometimes it can be bushy and low-spreading. It has dark grey to grey-brown coloured bark that can be smooth or flaky. The brown, slightly angular branchlets are glabrous and have inconspicuous ridges and obvious lenticels. Like most species of Acacia it has phyllodes rather than true leaves. The evergreen, coriaceous and glabrous phyllodesare straight to curved with a length of 2.5 to 15.5 cm (0.98 to 6.10 in) and a width of 0.5 to 1 mm (0.020 to 0.039 in) with two semi-prominent lateral nerves and the remainder inconspicuous. [3] It flowers from March to April or June to July producing yellow flowers [2] or sometimes as late as November and is thought to bloom at anytime following large scale rain events. [1] The cylindrical flower-spikes have a length of 0.9 to 3.2 cm (0.35 to 1.26 in) and are loosely packed with yellow flowers. After flowering woody and erect seed pods form that are usually linear to oblanceolate in shape and taper toward the base. The pods are straight sided or slightly biconvex with a length of 3 to 10 cm (1.2 to 3.9 in) and a width of 3 to 8 mm (0.12 to 0.31 in) with longitudinal nerves. The dark brown seeds inside are arranged longitudinally or slightly obliquely and have an oblong to elliptic shape with a length of 4 to 6 mm (0.16 to 0.24 in) with a narrowly conical aril. [3]

Taxonomy

The species was first formally described by the botanist Ferdinand von Mueller in 1859 as a part of the work Contributiones ad Acaciarum Australiae Cognitionem as published in the Journal of the Proceedings of the Linnean Society, Botany. It was reclassified as Racosperma orthocarpum by Leslie Pedley in 1987 then transferred back to genus Acacia in 2001. [4] The specific epithet is taken from the Greek words ortho meaning straight and carpos meaning fruit in reference to the straight shape of the seed pods. [1]

Distribution

It is native to central and northern parts of the Pilbara region including some of the islands in the Burrup Peninsula and the Dampier Archipelago as well as much of the Kimberley region of Western Australia [2] and the range of the plant extends eastward into the southern part of top end and the central region of the Northern Territory and into Queensland to the Mount Isa, Galilee and Georgetown areas where it is found on rocky hills, along rocky creeks and on sandy flats [3] growing in skeletal sandy or loamy soils [1] as a part of savannah woodland and open Eucalyptus shrubland communities usually with an understorey of spinifex grasses. [3]

See also

Related Research Articles

<i>Acacia eriopoda</i> Species of legume

Acacia eriopoda, commonly known as the Broome pindan wattle and the narrow-leaf pindan wattle, is a species of wattle in the legume family that is native to northern Western Australia. It is also known as Yirrakulu to the Nyangumarta people.

<i>Acacia effusifolia</i> Species of legume

Acacia effusifolia is a shrub or tree belonging to the genus Acacia and the subgenus Juliflorae. It is native to an area in the Mid West and the Wheatbelt regions of Western Australia.

<i>Acacia hamersleyensis</i> Species of legume

Acacia hamersleyensis, also known as Karijini wattle or Hamersley Range wattle, is a tree or shrub belonging to the genus Acacia and the subgenus Juliflorae. It is endemic to a small area in central Western Australia.

<i>Acacia hopperiana</i> Species of legume

Acacia hopperiana is a small tree or shrub belonging to the genus Acacia and the subgenus Juliflorae that is endemic to western Australia.

<i>Acacia latior</i> Species of legume

Acacia latior is a shrub belonging to the genus Acacia and the subgenus Juliflorae that is endemic to western Australia.

<i>Acacia leeuweniana</i> Species of legume

Acacia leeuweniana, also commonly known as Leeuwen's wattle or Spear Hill wattle, is a tree belonging to the genus Acacia and the subgenus Juliflorae that is endemic to north western Australia.

<i>Acacia levata</i> Species of legume

Acacia levata is a shrub belonging to the genus Acacia and the subgenus Juliflorae that is endemic to small arid area of western Australia.

<i>Acacia lirellata</i> Species of legume

Acacia lirellata is a shrub belonging to the genus Acacia and the subgenus Juliflorae that is endemic to south western Australia.

<i>Acacia merinthophora</i> Species of legume

Acacia merinthophora, also known as zig-zag wattle, is a tree or shrub belonging to the genus Acacia and the subgenus Juliflorae that is endemic to western Australia.

<i>Acacia multispicata</i> Species of legume

Acacia multispicata, commonly known as spiked wattle, is a shrub belonging to the genus Acacia and the subgenus Juliflorae that is endemic to south western Australia.

<i>Acacia oncinocarpa</i> Species of legume

Acacia oncinocarpa is a shrub or tree belonging to the genus Acacia and the subgenus Juliflorae that is endemic to northern Australia.

<i>Acacia ptychophylla</i> Species of legume

Acacia ptychophylla is a shrub belonging to the genus Acacia and the subgenus Juliflorae the is endemic to arid areas of north western Australia.

<i>Acacia rhodophloia</i> Species of legume

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.

<i>Acacia signata</i> Species of legume

Acacia signata is a tree or shrub belonging to the genus Acacia and the subgenus Juliflorae that is endemic to western Australia.

Acacia sulcaticaulis, also commonly known as the Mount Mulgine fluted wattle, is a shrub or tree belonging to the genus Acacia and the subgenus Juliflorae that is native to a small area in western Australia.

<i>Acacia tenuissima</i> Species of plant

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.

<i>Acacia hystrix</i> Species of legume

Acacia hystrix is a shrub belonging to the genus Acacia and the subgenus Phyllodineae that is endemic to south western Australia.

<i>Acacia vittata</i> Species of legume

Acacia vittata, commonly known as Lake Logue wattle, is a shrub of the genus Acacia and the subgenus Plurinerves that is endemic to a small area in western Australia.

<i>Acacia caroleae</i> Species of plant

Acacia caroleae, also known as Carol's wattle or narrow leaf currawong, is a shrub belonging to the genus Acacia and the subgenus Juliflorae that is native to north eastern Australia.

<i>Acacia subporosa</i> Species of legume

Acacia subporosa, also commonly known as river wattle, bower wattle, narrow-leaf bower wattle and sticky bower wattle, is a tree or shrub of the genus Acacia and the subgenus Plurinerves that is endemic to an area of south eastern Australia. It is considered to be rare in Victoria

References

  1. 1 2 3 4 "Acacia orthocarpa". Wattles of the Pilbara. Department of Environment and Conservation. 2010. Retrieved 31 March 2020.
  2. 1 2 3 "Acacia orthocarpa". FloraBase . Western Australian Government Department of Biodiversity, Conservation and Attractions.
  3. 1 2 3 4 "Acacia orthocarpa". WorldWideWattle. Western Australian Herbarium . Retrieved 31 March 2020.
  4. ↑ "Acacia orthocarpa F.Muell". Atlas of Living Australia. Global Biodiversity Information Facility . Retrieved 31 March 2020.
This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.