''Acacia anasilla'' is a shrub belonging to the genus ''
Acacia
''Acacia'', commonly known as the wattles or acacias, is a large genus of shrubs and trees in the subfamily Mimosoideae of the pea family Fabaceae. Initially, it comprised a group of plant species native to Africa and Australasia. The genus na ...
'' and the subgenus ''Lycopodiifoliae'' that 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 north western
Australia
Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a Sovereign state, sovereign country comprising the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous List of islands of Australia, sma ...
.
Description
The spindly erect shrub with small, viscid whorled leaves typically grows to a height of .
[ The densely white-hispid stems have erect ]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 with a length of . There are 15 to 20 slender straight 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 per whorl, the lower ones are erect and the upper ones are spreading to gently recurved. The phyllodes have a length of and they have an incurved length mucro
A leaf (plural, : leaves) is any of the principal appendages of a vascular plant plant stem, stem, usually borne laterally aboveground and specialized for photosynthesis. Leaves are collectively called foliage, as in "autumn foliage", wh ...
.[ It blooms in July and produces yellow flowers.][ The spherical heads of the ]inflorescence
An inflorescence is a group or cluster of flowers arranged on a stem that is composed of a main branch or a complicated arrangement of branches. Morphologically, it is the modified part of the shoot of seed plants where flowers are formed o ...
s contain 40 to 50 densely packed yellow flowers. The longitudinal sessile seed pod
This page provides a glossary of plant morphology. Botanists and other biologists who study plant morphology use a number of different terms to classify and identify plant organs and parts that can be observed using no more than a handheld magnify ...
s have a length of and a width of and contain 3 to 10 seeds per pod.[
]
Taxonomy
The species was first formally described by the botanist Alexander Segger George
Alexander Segger George (born 4 April 1939) is a Western Australian botanist. He is the authority on the plant genera ''Banksia'' and ''Dryandra''. The "bizarre" Restionaceae genus '' Alexgeorgea'' was named in his honour in 1976.
Early life
A ...
in 1999 as part of the work ''Seven new species in Acacia section Lycopodiifolia (Mimosaceae)'' as published in the ''Journal of the Royal Society of Western Australia''. It was reclassified as ''Racosperma anasillum'' by Leslie Pedley
Leslie Pedley (19 May 1930 – 27 November 2018)IPNILeslie Pedley/ref> was an Australian botanist who specialised in the genus ''Acacia''. He is notable for bringing into use the generic name ''Racosperma'', creating a split in the genus, which r ...
in 2003 and transferred back to the genus ''Acacia'' in 2006.[
]
Distribution
It is native to an area in the Kimberley
Kimberly or Kimberley may refer to:
Places and historical events
Australia
* Kimberley (Western Australia)
** Roman Catholic Diocese of Kimberley
* Kimberley Warm Springs, Tasmania
* Kimberley, Tasmania a small town
* County of Kimberley, a ...
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 ...
where it is found in arid barren quartzite
Quartzite is a hard, non- foliated metamorphic rock which was originally pure quartz sandstone.Essentials of Geology, 3rd Edition, Stephen Marshak, p 182 Sandstone is converted into quartzite through heating and pressure usually related to tect ...
rangesgranite
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 ...
or sandstone
Sandstone is a clastic sedimentary rock composed mainly of sand-sized (0.0625 to 2 mm) silicate grains. Sandstones comprise about 20–25% of all sedimentary rocks.
Most sandstone is composed of quartz or feldspar (both silicates) ...
slopes as a part of open ''Eucalyptus brevifolia
''Eucalyptus brevifolia'', commonly known as snappy white gum or northern white gum, is a tree that is endemic to northern Australia. It has smooth, powdery white bark, lance-shaped adult leaves, buds arranged in group of seven, white flowers and ...
'' woodland communities.Halls Creek
Halls is a plural of the word hall.
Halls may also refer to:
People
* Walter Halls (1871–1953), British trade unionist and politician
* Ethel May Halls (1882–1967), American actress
* Julian Halls (born 1967), British field hockey player
* ...
and around the Ord River
The Ord River is a river in the Kimberley region of Western Australia. The river's catchment covers .
The lower Ord River and the conjunction with Cambridge Gulf create the most northern estuarine environment in Western Australia.
The Ord ...
.[
]
See also
* List of ''Acacia'' species
References
{{Taxonbar, from=Q9562087
anasilla
Acacias of Western Australia
Plants described in 1999
Taxa named by Alex George