''Acacia alexandri'' 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
Cape Range
The Cape Range is a small subrange of the Kitimat Ranges, located on the southern end of Calvert Island, British Columbia, Canada
Canada is a country in North America. Its ten provinces and three territories extend from the Atlantic O ...
in the north-west of Western Australia. It is a
glabrous
Glabrousness (from the Latin ''glaber'' meaning "bald", "hairless", "shaved", "smooth") is the technical term for a lack of hair, down, setae, trichomes or other such covering. A glabrous surface may be a natural characteristic of all or part of ...
shrub with slender branchlets, linear
phyllode
Phyllodes are modified petioles or leaf stems, which are leaf-like in appearance and function. In some plants, these become flattened and widened, while the leaf itself becomes reduced or vanishes altogether. Thus the phyllode comes to serve the ...
s, and cream-coloured flowers arranged in 1 or 2 spherical heads in the axils of phyllodes, and narrowly oblong, papery
pods up to long.
Description
''Acacia alexandri'' is a glabrous, open or moderately dense shrub that typically grows to a height of and has slender branchlets. Its phyllodes are linear, narrowed at the base, long and wide, wide on some specimens. There are spiny
stipule
In botany, a stipule is an outgrowth typically borne on both sides (sometimes on just one side) of the base of a leafstalk (the petiole). Stipules are considered part of the anatomy of the leaf of a typical flowering plant, although in many speci ...
s long at the base of phyllodes, but sometimes absent from mature phyllodes. There is a sometimes obscure
gland
In animals, a gland is a group of cells in an animal's body that synthesizes substances (such as hormones) for release into the bloodstream (endocrine gland) or into cavities inside the body or its outer surface (exocrine gland).
Structure
De ...
up to above the
pulvinus
A pulvinus (pl. ''pulvini'') is a joint-like thickening at the base of a plant leaf or leaflet that facilitates growth-independent movement. Pulvini are common, for example, in members of the bean family Fabaceae (Leguminosae) and the prayer plant ...
.
The flowers are arranged 1 or 2 spherical heads in the axils of phyllodes, on a
peduncle long with 60 to 80 cream-coloured flowers. Flowering mostly occurs from August to September, and the pod is papery, narrowly oblong, and prominently rounded over the seeds, up to long and wide. The seeds are dull blackish, spherical and about long.
Taxonomy
''Acacia alexandri'' was first formally described in 1992 by
Bruce Maslin
Bruce Roger Maslin (born 3 May 1946) is an Australian botanist, known for his work on ''Acacia'' taxonomy.
Born in Bridgetown, Western Australia, he obtained an honours degree in botany from the University of Western Australia in 1967, then to ...
in the journal ''
Nuytsia
''Nuytsia floribunda'' is a hemiparasitic tree found in Western Australia. The species is known locally as moodjar and, more recently, the Christmas tree or Western Australian Christmas tree. The display of intensely bright flowers during the ...
'' from specimens he collected in the Cape Range in 1988.
The
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 ...
(''alexandri'') honours
Alex George Alexander or Alex George may refer to:
*Alex George (botanist) (born 1939), Australian botanist
* Alexander L. George (1920–2006), American political scientist
* Alexander George (philosopher), American philosopher
*Alex George (motorcyclist), Sc ...
, who discovered the species in 1960.
Distribution and habitat
This species of wattle is endemic to the Cape Range in the
Gascoyne
The Gascoyne region is one of the nine administrative regions of Western Australia. It is located in the northwest of Western Australia, and consists of the local government areas of Carnarvon, Exmouth, Shark Bay and Upper Gascoyne. The Gasc ...
region of
Western Australia
Western Australia (commonly abbreviated as WA) is a state of Australia occupying the western percent of the land area of Australia excluding external territories. It is bounded by the Indian Ocean to the north and west, the Southern Ocean to th ...
around
Cape Range
The Cape Range is a small subrange of the Kitimat Ranges, located on the southern end of Calvert Island, British Columbia, Canada
Canada is a country in North America. Its ten provinces and three territories extend from the Atlantic O ...
where it is found on rocky limestone hillsides as part of
mallee shrubland communities growing in rocky, pink loamy soils.
Conservation status
''Acacia alexandri'' is listed as
Priority Three by the Government of Western Australia
Department of Parks and Wildlife
The Department of Parks and Wildlife (DPaW) was the department of the Government of Western Australia responsible for managing lands described in the ''Conservation and Land Management Act 1984'' and implementing the state's conservation and e ...
,
meaning that it is poorly known and known from only a few locations but is not under imminent threat.
See also
*
List of ''Acacia'' species
References
{{Taxonbar, from=Q15289789
alexandri
Acacias of Western Australia
Plants described in 1992
Taxa named by Bruce Maslin