''Acacia biflora'', commonly known as two-flowered acacia, 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 ''Phyllodineae''.

Description

The prostrate to ascending, erect, open or dense shrub typically grows to a height of . It blooms from December to May and produces creamy-white flowers. The branchlets are shortly covered with small soft hairs to sparsely or densely puberulous. The pungent green

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 are inequilateral, obtriangular to obdeltoid shape. They are usually in length with a width of but can be longer on older branches. It has simple

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 with one found per axil supported on peduncles that are long. The heads are globular containing two white to cream flowers. Following flowering curved narrowly oblong

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 form that are around in length and wide. The glossy, greyish brown oblong seeds the pods contain are long.

Taxonomy

The species was first formally described by the

botanist Botany, also called , plant biology or phytology, is the science of plant life and a branch of biology. A botanist, plant scientist or phytologist is a scientist who specialises in this field. The term "botany" comes from the Ancient Greek wo ...

Robert Brown in 1813 in the

William Townsend Aiton William Townsend Aiton FRHS FLS (2 February 1766 – 9 October 1849) was an English botanist. He was born at Kew on 2 February 1766, the eldest son of William Aiton. He brought out a second and enlarged edition of the ''Hortus Kewensis'' in 181 ...

work ''Hortus Kewensis''. The name is often misapplied to '' Acacia chrysocephala''. ''A. biflora'' is part of the ''A. biflora group'' of Acacias along with '' A. chrysocephala'', '' A. divergens'', '' A. incrassata '', '' A. mooreana'', '' A. phlebopetala'' and '' A. robinae''. The species all have similar structure but can be differentiated by flower characteristics. 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 ...

(''biflora'') is derived from the

Latin Latin (, or , ) is a classical language belonging to the Italic branch of the Indo-European languages. Latin was originally a dialect spoken in the lower Tiber area (then known as Latium) around present-day Rome, but through the power of the ...

prefix ''bi-'' meaning "two" and the Latin word ''flos'' meaning "flower".

Distribution

It is native to an area in 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 sepa ...

, Great Southern and Goldfields-Esperance regions 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 grows in sandy to gravelly

lateritic Laterite is both a soil and a rock type rich in iron and aluminium and is commonly considered to have formed in hot and wet tropical areas. Nearly all laterites are of rusty-red coloration, because of high iron oxide content. They develop by ...

soils. The shrub is found in a large continuous distribution from the Stirling Range National Park south to the coast and then east to near Jerramungup and

Bremer Bay Bremer may refer to: People *Bremer (surname) *Bremer Ehrler (born 1914), American politician * Bremer (born 1997), Brazilian footballer Places ;Australia *Bremer Bay, Western Australia *Bremer Marine Park *Bremer Island * Bremer River (disambigua ...

with disjunct populations in several areas further east including around Scaddan and at Lucky Bay in Cape Le Grand National Park. It is often found as part of woodlands or low mallee scrubland communities.

References

{{Taxonbar, from=Q9562732 biflora Acacias of Western Australia Plants described in 1813 Taxa named by Robert Brown (botanist, born 1773)

Description

Taxonomy

Distribution

See also

References