''Acacia conferta'', commonly known as crowded-leaf wattle, 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'' that is endemic to eastern

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 shrub or tree with a rounded habit that typically grows to a height of that has slender spreading branchlets with dense to sparse hairs. The ascending to erect and crowded

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 on short stem-projections. The flat green phyllodes have a linear-oblanceolate to oblong-elliptic shape and a length of and a width of . It mostly blooms between April and August producing simple inflorescences that occur singly in the

axil A leaf ( : leaves) is any of the principal appendages of a vascular plant stem, usually borne laterally aboveground and specialized for photosynthesis. Leaves are collectively called foliage, as in "autumn foliage", while the leaves, st ...

s. The spherical flower-heads contain 20 to 25 bright yellow flowers. The seed pods that form after flowering are up to in length and in width and contain oblong-elliptic shaped seeds that are in length.

Taxonomy

The species was first formally described by the botanist George Bentham in 1842 as part of

William Jackson Hooker Sir William Jackson Hooker (6 July 178512 August 1865) was an English botanist and botanical illustrator, who became the first director of Kew when in 1841 it was recommended to be placed under state ownership as a botanic garden. At Kew he ...

's work ''Notes on Mimoseae, with a synopsis of species'' as published in the ''London Journal of Botany''. It was reclassified as ''Racosperma confertum'' by Leslie Pedley in 1987 then transferred back to the genus ''Acacia'' in 2007. The only other synonyms are '' Acacia tindaleae'' and ''Racosperma tindaleae''.

Distribution

The shrub is found in western New South Wales around Moree and Warialda on slopes and plains extending north into south eastern Queensland to west of Blackall and east to the coast around Proserpine. It will grow in sandy or loamy soils and is often a part of dry sclerophyll forest or '' Eucalyptus'' woodland communities.

Cultivation

It is sometimes cultivated and can be propagated by scarifying the seeds or treatment with boiling water. It prefers a sunny position and will grow in most soil types that needs a well-drained position. It is also

frost Frost is a thin layer of ice on a solid surface, which forms from water vapor in an above-freezing atmosphere coming in contact with a solid surface whose temperature is below freezing, and resulting in a phase change from water vapor (a gas) ...

tolerant and can cope to temperatures as low as .

References

{{Taxonbar, from=Q15289937 conferta Flora of New South Wales Flora of Queensland Plants described in 1842 Taxa named by Allan Cunningham (botanist)

Description

Taxonomy

Distribution

Cultivation

See also

References