Acacia acellerata

Acacia acellerata
Specimen K000791324 collected from the Stirling Range, 1902
(image copyright Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew)
Scientific classification Edit this classification
Kingdom: Plantae
Clade: Tracheophytes
Clade: Angiosperms
Clade: Eudicots
Clade: Rosids
Order: Fabales
Family: Fabaceae
Subfamily: Caesalpinioideae
Clade: Mimosoid clade
Genus: Acacia
Species:
A. acellerata
Binomial name
Acacia acellerata
Synonyms[1]
  • ? Acacia leptoneura var. pungens Meisn.
  • Racosperma acelleratum (Maiden & Blakely) Pedley

Acacia acellerata is a species of flowering plant in the family Fabaceae and is endemic to the south-west of Western Australia. It is a rigid, mostly glabrous shrub with phyllodes that are more or less round on cross-section, heads of golden-yellow flowers, and linear, wavy pods.

Description

Acacia acellerata is a rigid, spreading, domed shrub that typically grows to a height of 15–70 cm (5.9–27.6 in) and is more or less glabrous. Its phyllodes are sessile, more or less round in cross-section, flat or with the edges turned under, 25–50 mm (0.98–1.97 in) long and 0.5–1.7 mm (0.020–0.067 in) long with a rigid, sharply pointed end. The flowers are borne in one or two globe-shaped heads on a peduncle 3–7 mm (0.12–0.28 in) long, the heads 3–4 mm (0.12–0.16 in) long with 12 to 20 golden-yellow flowers with spoon-shaped bracts at the base. Flowering occurs in September and October and the pods are linear and wavy, up to 50 mm (2.0 in) long and 2.0–2.5 mm (0.079–0.098 in) long, containing dark, blackish-brown, egg-shaped seeds 2.5–3.0 mm (0.098–0.118 in) long with a creamy-white, helmet-shaped aril.[2][3][4]

Taxonomy

Acacia acellerata was first formally described in 1927 by the Joseph Maiden and William Blakely in 1927 in the Journal of the Royal Society of Western Australia from specimens collected in the Stirling Range by Alexander Morrison.[5][6] The specific epithet (acellerata) means "sharp" or "pungent", referring to the sharply-pointed phyllodes.[7]

Distribution

The species grows on undulating plains and along water courses[2] as a part of shrubland communities in loam or loamy sand soils. It has a broken distribution and is found in an area between Cranbrook and east of the Stirling Range between Jerramungup and Ravensthorpe. The species is sometimes associated with Acacia curvata or A. leptoneura.[3][4]

See also

References

  1. ^ a b "Acacia acellerata". Australian Plant Census. Retrieved 29 December 2022.
  2. ^ a b "Acacia acellerata". FloraBase. Western Australian Government Department of Biodiversity, Conservation and Attractions.
  3. ^ a b "Acacia acellerata". WorldWideWattle. Department of Parks and Wildlife. Retrieved 26 March 2018.
  4. ^ a b "Acacia acellerata". Flora of Australia. Australian Biological Resources Study, Department of Climate Change, Energy, the Environment and Water: Canberra. Retrieved 29 December 2023.
  5. ^ "Acacia acellerata". APNI. Retrieved 7 December 2023.
  6. ^ Maiden, Joseph; Blakely, William (1927). "Descriptions of fifty new species and six varieties of western and northern Australian Acacias, and notes on four other species". Journal of the Royal Society of Western Australia. 13: 2. Retrieved 29 December 2023.
  7. ^ Sharr, Francis Aubi; George, Alex (2019). Western Australian Plant Names and Their Meanings (3rd ed.). Kardinya, WA: Four Gables Press. p. 126. ISBN 9780958034180.