''Acacia aulacocarpa'', also known as New Guinea wattle or golden flowered salwood, is an Australian shrub or tree in the family Fabaceae. It is found in northern Australia,

Papua New Guinea Papua New Guinea (abbreviated PNG; , ; tpi, Papua Niugini; ho, Papua Niu Gini), officially the Independent State of Papua New Guinea ( tpi, Independen Stet bilong Papua Niugini; ho, Independen Stet bilong Papua Niu Gini), is a country i ...

Irian Jaya New Guinea (; Hiri Motu: ''Niu Gini''; id, Papua, or , historically ) is the world's second-largest island with an area of . Located in Oceania in the southwestern Pacific Ocean, the island is separated from Australia by the wide Torres ...

and parts of

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Description

''Acacia aulacocarpa'' grows as a shrub with a height of or as a small tree with a typical height of but can reach heights of up to . It tends to have a single stem but can have few branches near the base with a spreading crown. The majority of the bark is smooth but it is often cracked and fissured at the base of the taller trees. The acutely angled

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 ...

branchlets are slender to sub-stout. Like most ''Acacias'' it has phyllode s rather than true leaves. The phyllodes have a dimidiate to sub

falcate The following is a list of terms which are used to describe leaf morphology in the description and taxonomy of plants. Leaves may be simple (a single leaf blade or lamina) or compound (with several leaflets). The edge of the leaf may be regular ...

shape and are in length and wide and are glaucous with a slight sheen. The phyllodes have numerous parallel longitudinal nerves. It blooms between January and June.

Taxonomy

The species was first formally described by the botanist

George Bentham George Bentham (22 September 1800 – 10 September 1884) was an English botanist, described by the weed botanist Duane Isely as "the premier systematic botanist of the nineteenth century". Born into a distinguished family, he initially studie ...

in 1842 as part of William Jackson Hooker's work ''Notes on Mimoseae, with a synopsis of species'' as published in the ''London Journal of Botany''. It was reclassified as ''Racosperma aulacocarpum'' 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 1987 then transferred back to genus ''Acacia'' in 2006.

Distribution

''Acacia aulacocarpa'' occurs naturally east of the Great Dividing Range from northern

Queensland ) , nickname = Sunshine State , image_map = Queensland in Australia.svg , map_caption = Location of Queensland in Australia , subdivision_type = Country , subdivision_name = Australia , established_title = Before federation , establishe ...

to northern New South Wales. Despite the widespread distribution of the species it is not very common as populations tend to be locally restricted to run-off sites around rocky outcrops or along creek banks. It is quite uncommon in

New South Wales ) , nickname = , image_map = New South Wales in Australia.svg , map_caption = Location of New South Wales in AustraliaCoordinates: , subdivision_type = Country , subdivision_name = Australia , established_title = Before federation , es ...

and only found in the Grafton district. It is far more widespread in

and has discontinuous distribution along the coast and adjacent tablelands of the Great Dividing Range from around Daintree in the north to south of

Brisbane Brisbane ( ) is the capital and most populous city of the Australian state of Queensland, and the third-most populous city in Australia and Oceania, with a population of approximately 2.6 million. Brisbane lies at the centre of the South ...

in the south. It grows in sandy soils as a part of

sclerophyll forest Sclerophyll is a type of vegetation that is adapted to long periods of dryness and heat. The plants feature hard leaves, short internodes (the distance between leaves along the stem) and leaf orientation which is parallel or oblique to direct ...

or woodland communities on sandstone.

References

{{Taxonbar, from=Q4670866 aulacocarpa Fabales of Australia Flora of Queensland Flora of New South Wales Drought-tolerant trees Trees of Australia Near threatened flora of Australia Near threatened biota of Queensland Plants described in 1842 Taxa named by George Bentham Taxa named by Allan Cunningham (botanist)

Description

Taxonomy

Distribution

See also

References