''Acacia acutata'' is a species of flowering plant in the family
and is
endemic
Endemism is the state of a species being found in a single defined geographic location, such as an island, state, nation, country or other defined zone; organisms that are indigenous to a place are not endemic to it if they are also found elsew ...
to the
south-west
The points of the compass are a set of horizontal, radially arrayed compass directions (or azimuths) used in navigation and cartography. A compass rose is primarily composed of four cardinal directions—north, east, south, and west—each se ...
of Western Australia. It is an inticately branched, often compact shrub with spiny branchlets, sharply pointed, triangular to trowel-shaped
phyllodes, flowers arranged in spherical heads of 11 to 15 flowers, and firmly papery
pods, rounded over the seeds.
Description
''Acacia acutata'' is an intricately branched,
glabrous, often compact shrub that typically grows to a height of and has rigid, spiny branchlets. The phyllodes are triangular to trowel-shaped, long and wide and sharply pointed, with a prominent midvein. There are
stipules at the base of the phyllodes, but that fall off as the phyllodes mature. The flowers are borne in spherical heads on a
peduncle Peduncle may refer to:
*Peduncle (botany), a stalk supporting an inflorescence, which is the part of the shoot of seed plants where flowers are formed
*Peduncle (anatomy), a stem, through which a mass of tissue is attached to a body
**Peduncle (art ...
long, each head with 11 to 15 golden flowers with thin
bracteoles at the base, but fall off as the flowers develop. Flowering occurs from August to October and the pod is firmly papery, up to long and wide and prominently rounded over the seeds.
The seeds are oblong to elliptic, about long.
Taxonomy
''Acacia acutata'' was first formally described in 1904 by William Vincent Fitzgerald in the '' Journal of the West Australian Natural History Society'' from specimens he collected near Cunderdin in 1903.specific epithet
In taxonomy, binomial nomenclature ("two-term naming system"), also called nomenclature ("two-name naming system") or binary nomenclature, is a formal system of naming species of living things by giving each a name composed of two parts, bot ...
(''acutata'') means "forming a sharp angle", referring to the phyllodes.
Distribution
This species of wattle mainly occurs between Wongan Hills
Wongan Hills is a range of low flat-topped hills in the Avon Wheatbelt bioregion of Western Australia. It is located at , in the Shire of Wongan–Ballidu.
History
The range was first recorded in 1836 by Surveyor General of Western Australia Jo ...
, Ongerup and Lake King
Lake King is a town in the eastern Wheatbelt region of Western Australia, from Perth along State Route 40 between Kelmscott and Ravensthorpe. As of 2016, the town had a population of 95. The 2011 census recorded both the population of the tow ...
where it is found among granite
Granite () is a coarse-grained (phaneritic) intrusive igneous rock composed mostly of quartz, alkali feldspar, and plagioclase. It forms from magma with a high content of silica and alkali metal oxides that slowly cools and solidifies undergro ...
outcrops and sandplains growing in gravelly sandy, loamy or clay soils.
See also
* List of ''Acacia'' species
References
{{Taxonbar, from=Q15289345
acutata
Acacias of Western Australia
Plants described in 1904
Taxa named by William Vincent Fitzgerald