''Acacia courtii'', also commonly known as Northern Brother wattle or North Brother wattle, is a tree 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 ''Juliflorae'' that is native 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 ...

. It is currently listed as

vulnerable Vulnerable may refer to: General * Vulnerability * Vulnerability (computing) * Vulnerable adult * Vulnerable species Music Albums * ''Vulnerable'' (Marvin Gaye album), 1997 * ''Vulnerable'' (Tricky album), 2003 * ''Vulnerable'' (The Used album) ...

by the '' Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation Act 1999''.

Description

The tree typically grows to over to a maximum height of and has slender, brittle and pendulous branchlets with caducous and deltate stipules that have a length that is mostly less than . Like most species of ''Acacia'' it has

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 rather than true leaves. The

glaucous ''Glaucous'' (, ) is used to describe the pale grey or bluish-green appearance of the surfaces of some plants, as well as in the names of birds, such as the glaucous gull (''Larus hyperboreus''), glaucous-winged gull (''Larus glaucescens''), g ...

, evergreen and flexible phyllodes have a linear shape and straight with a small hook at the end. They have a length of and a width of and have one prominent vein with several others. It blooms between November and January producing inflorescences with paired or solitary flower-spikes that have cylindrical shape with a length of with loosely packed golden coloured flowers. After flowering straight woody seed pods form that have a linear shape. The shiny brown seeds inside have an oblong-elliptic shape and a length of with a filiform funicle that is folded four to eight times and a small oblique

aril An aril (pronounced ), also called an arillus, is a specialized outgrowth from a seed that partly or completely covers the seed. An arillode or false aril is sometimes distinguished: whereas an aril grows from the attachment point of the see ...

Taxonomy

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 ...

honours the botanist

Arthur Bertram Court Arthur Bertram Court (25 December 1927 – 18 May 2012) was an Australian botanist He grew up in the Dandenong Ranges in Victoria where he became interested in local flora especially ferns and orchids. Court graduated and received his Bachelor o ...

who was once the assistant director of the

Australian National Botanic Gardens The Australian National Botanic Gardens (ANBG) is a heritage-listed botanical garden located in , Canberra, in the Australian Capital Territory, Australia. Established in 1949, the Gardens is administered by the Australian Government's Departme ...

. It is closely related to ''

Acacia orites ''Acacia orites'', also commonly known as mountain wattle, is a shrub belonging to the genus ''Acacia'' and the subgenus ''Juliflorae'' that is native to north eastern Australia. Description The tree can grow to a maximum height of that has obs ...

''.

Distribution

It is endemic to a small area in mid north coast region of New South Wales around

Laurieton Laurieton is a coastal town on the Mid North Coast of the Australian state of New South Wales. Laurieton is the largest town in the Camden Haven district. Laurieton is 365 km

, Kendall and Kew where it is mostly situated on rocky hillsides among the coastal ranges in three small locations where it is a part of dry forests and woodland communities. Six main populations are known mostly in the Kerewong State Forest and around North Brother Mountain and Mid Brother Mountain. It is often associated with species of '' Eucalyptus'' including; ''

Eucalyptus acmenoides ''Eucalyptus acmenoides'', commonly known as white mahogany or barayly,Les Robinson - Field Guide to the Native Plants of Sydney, page 40 is a tree that is endemic to eastern Australia. It is a large tree with grey to reddish brown, stringy b ...

'', '' Eucalyptus gummifera'', ''

Eucalyptus intermedia ''Corymbia intermedia'', commonly known as the pink bloodwood, is a species of medium to tall tree that is endemic to north-eastern Australia. It has rough, tessellated bark on the trunk and branches, flower buds in groups of seven, white flow ...

'', ''

Eucalyptus siderophloia ''Eucalyptus siderophloia'', commonly known as the northern grey ironbark, is a medium-sized to tall ironbark tree that is endemic to south eastern Australia. It has hard, dark, furrowed bark, lance-shaped to curved adult leaves, flower buds in ...

'' and ''

Eucalyptus umbra ''Eucalyptus umbra'', known as the broad-leaved white mahogany, is a species of small to medium-sized tree that is endemic to northern New South Wales. It has rough, fibrous to stringy bark on the trunk and branches, lance-shaped to curved ad ...

''. Other species commonly found in its habitat include; '' Allocasuarina torulosa'', '' Helichrysum elatum'', '' Imperata cylindrica'', '' Syncarpia glomulifera'' and '' Themeda australis''.

References

{{Taxonbar, from=Q15289579 courtii Flora of New South Wales Plants described in 1990

Description

Taxonomy

Distribution

See also

References