Acacia retinodes

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Acacia retinodes
Acacia melanoxylon2.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. retinodes
Binomial name
Acacia retinodes
Acacia retinodesDistMap761.png
Occurrence data from AVH
Synonyms [2]
  • Acacia floribunda sensu auct.
  • Acacia fragrans Pottier
  • Acacia longissima Chopinet
  • Acacia provincialis A.Camus
  • Acacia retinodes Schltdl. var. floribunda H.Vilm.
  • Acacia retinoide Schltr.
  • Acacia retinoides Schltr.
  • Acacia rhetinoides Schltr.
  • Acacia rostellifera sensu auct.
  • Acacia semperflorens A.Berger

Acacia retinodes is an evergreen shrub that is native to South Australia, Victoria and Tasmania. Short racemes of yellow flowers are produced periodically throughout the year. [3] [4] Some common names are retinodes water wattle, swamp wattle, wirilda, ever-blooming wattle and silver wattle. [2]

Contents

Description

The tree typically grows to a height of 6 to 10 m (20 to 33 ft) [5] and is able to form suckers. It has furrowed bark with a rough texture that is dark brown to black in colour. It has glabrous branchlets that are sometimes pendulous or angular or flattened at extremities. Like most species of Acacia it has phyllodes rather than true leaves. The green to grey-green, glabrous and variable phyllodes are quite crowded on stems and have a narrowly oblanceolate to linear shape. The phyllodes are 5 to 16 cm (2.0 to 6.3 in) in length and 3 to 16 mm (0.12 to 0.63 in) wide with one main nerve per face. It mostly blooms in summer between December and February. [6]

Acacia retinodes tree Acacia retinodes - Jardin Botanico de Barcelona - Barcelona, Spain - DSC08956.JPG
Acacia retinodes tree

Taxonomy

The species was first formally described by the botanist Diederich Franz Leonhard von Schlechtendal in 1847 as part of the work Sudaustralische Pflanzen. II. Bestimmung und Beschreibung der von Dr Behr in Sudaustralien gesammelten Pflanzen as published in the journal Linnaea: ein Journal für die Botanik in ihrem ganzen Umfange, oder Beiträge zur Pflanzenkunde. It was reclassified as Racosperma retinodes by Leslie Pedley in 2003 then transferred back to genus Acacia in 2007. [7]

Varieties

Distribution

In South Australia it is native to the Mount Lofty Ranges from around Mount Clare to Mount Bryan extending down the Fleurieu Peninsula to around Delamere and Normanville in the south and is regarded as a weed further to the southeast. It is commonly situated on low ranges and hills as a part of Eucalyptus woodland communities. [6]

Uses

It is used for environmental management and for ornamental purposes. [2] It produces good quantities of gum and its bark is good for tanning. [4] It has gained the Royal Horticultural Society's Award of Garden Merit. [8] [9] In temperate regions it requires a frost-free sheltered spot with full sun. [10] Indigenous Australians ate the gum, after softening it in water, to relieve chest pains. [11]

The plant is grown as a house plant in temperate climates, where it is resistant to most diseases and pests. It can be grown in almost any well-drained potting soil, but requires ample light and water from spring to summer. Watering should be reduced in the fall and winter. Repotting is generally necessary at the start of each growth season. The plant is usually propagated from seed, but can be propagated from cuttings, though these may take several months to root. [12]

See also

Related Research Articles

<i>Acacia pycnantha</i> Golden wattle of southeastern Australia

Acacia pycnantha, most commonly known as the golden wattle, is a tree of the family Fabaceae. It grows to a height of 8 metres and has phyllodes instead of true leaves. The profuse fragrant, golden flowers appear in late winter and spring, followed by long seed pods. Explorer Thomas Mitchell collected the type specimen, from which George Bentham wrote the species description in 1842. The species is native to southeastern Australia as an understorey plant in eucalyptus forest. Plants are cross-pollinated by several species of honeyeater and thornbill, which visit nectaries on the phyllodes and brush against flowers, transferring pollen between them.

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<i>Acacia dealbata</i> Species of flowering plant

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

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

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

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

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

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<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 anceps</i> Species of legume

Acacia anceps, commonly known as Port Lincoln wattle or the two edged wattle, is a species of flowering plant in the family Fabaceae and is endemic to coastal areas of south-western Australia. It is a bushy, spreading shrub with glabrous branchlets angled at the ends, elliptic to lance-shaped phyllodes with the narrower end towards the base, spherical heads of 50 to 130 golden-yellow flowers, and narrowly oblong pods up to 60 mm (2.4 in) long.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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References

  1. "Acacia retinodes". Australian Plant Name Index (APNI), IBIS database. Centre for Plant Biodiversity Research, Australian Government, Canberra. Retrieved 4 December 2012.[ permanent dead link ]
  2. 1 2 3 ILDIS LegumeWeb
  3. RHS A-Z encyclopedia of garden plants. United Kingdom: Dorling Kindersley. 2008. p. 1136. ISBN   978-1405332965.
  4. 1 2 Internet Archive Select Extra-tropical Plants Readily Eligible for Industrial Culture Or Naturalization By Ferdinand von Mueller
  5. "Arthur Lee Jacobson Plant of the Month". Archived from the original on 8 April 2007. Retrieved 21 April 2007.
  6. 1 2 "Acacia retinodes Schltdl". Wattle - Acacias of Australia. Lucid Central. Retrieved 4 August 2020.
  7. "Acacia retinodes Schltdl". Atlas of Living Australia. Global Biodiversity Information Facility . Retrieved 4 August 2020.
  8. "Acacia retinodes". www.rhs.org. Royal Horticultural Society. Retrieved 27 February 2020.
  9. "AGM Plants - Ornamental" (PDF). www.rhs.org. Royal Horticultural Society. November 2018. p. 1. Retrieved 27 February 2020.
  10. "Acacia retinodes - Wirilda". Adelaide Botanic Garden . Retrieved 23 October 2019.
  11. "Acacia retinodes Wirilda". Plant Selector. Government of South Australia . Retrieved 4 August 2020.
  12. Chiusoli, Alessandro; Boriani, Luisa Maria (1986). Simon & Schuster's guide to houseplants. New York: Simon and Schuster. ISBN   0671631314.