''Acacia aphanoclada'', also known as Nullagine ghost wattle,
is a species of flowering plant in the family
and is
endemic a small area in the
Pilbara region of Western Australia. It is a
glabrous wispy shrub with narrowly linear
phyllodes,
raceme
A raceme ( or ) or racemoid is an unbranched, indeterminate type of inflorescence bearing flowers having short floral stalks along the shoots that bear the flowers. The oldest flowers grow close to the base and new flowers are produced as the s ...
s of spherical heads of golden flowers, and narrowly oblong, papery
pods up to long.
Description
''Acacia aphanoclada'' is a
glabrous, wispy, single-stemmed shrub that typically grows to a height of up to with a
dbh of , topped by sparse crown foliage mostly found at the ends of the slender drooping branchlets. Its phyllodes are drooping, narrowly linear, mostly long and usually wide, with a
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 ...
on the upper edge of the phyllode from the base. The flowers are arranged in racemes in the axils of phyllodes usually long, with 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. The heads are in diameter and contain 70 to 90 golden flowers. Flowering occurs from August to October, and the legume is a narrowly oblong, papery pod long and wide, containing dark brown, oblong to egg-shaped to almost round seeds long and wide.
Taxonomy
''Acacia aphanoclada'' was first formally described in 1992 by the botanist
Bruce Maslin in the journal ''
Nuytsia'' from specimens collected near
Nullagine in 1973.
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 ...
(''aphanoclada'') is taken from the
Greek word ''aphanes'' meaning 'unseen' or 'invisible' and ''klados'' meaning 'branch', alluding to the wispy growth habit, slender stems and open crowns of this species, that make it hard to detect in the field.
Distribution
Nullagine ghost wattle is sparsely distributed around the small town of Nullagine to the north of
Newman
Newman is a surname of English origin and may refer to many people:
The surname Newman is widespread in the core Anglosphere.
A
*Abram Newman (1736–1799), British grocer
*Adrian Newman (disambiguation), multiple people
*Al Newman (born 1960) ...
in the Pilbara region of north western Western Australia. It is often situated amongst rocky hills, rises and slopes in skeletal sediments and soils of conglomerate. The shrub is usually part of spinifex communities with associated ''
Eucalyptus'' and other ''Acacia'' species.
[
]
See also
* List of ''Acacia'' species
References
{{Taxonbar, from=Q9562220
aphanoclada
Acacias of Western Australia
Plants described in 1992
Taxa named by Bruce Maslin