''Acacia crombiei'', commonly known as pink gidgee, is a shrub belonging to the genus ''
Acacia'' and the subgenus ''Phyllodineae'' that is native to central
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 ...
.
Description
The tree typically grows to a height of around with a habit that is similar in appearance to ''
Acacia cana'' or ''
Acacia cambagei
''Acacia cambagei'', commonly known as gidgee, stinking wattle, stinking gidgee in English, or gidjiirr, by transliteration from indigenous languages of north-western NSW, is an endemic tree of Australia. It is found primarily in semiarid and ...
''. It has
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 ...
, flexuose, angled branchlets with no
stipule
In botany, a stipule is an outgrowth typically borne on both sides (sometimes on just one side) of the base of a leafstalk (the petiole). Stipules are considered part of the anatomy of the leaf of a typical flowering plant, although in many speci ...
s. The straight to shallowly recurved pale-green
phyllodes have a narrowly linear shape. The phyllodes have a length of and a width of and are narrowed at each end with a prominent midrib and nerves. The
inflorescence
An inflorescence is a group or cluster of flowers arranged on a Plant stem, stem that is composed of a main branch or a complicated arrangement of branches. Morphology (biology), Morphologically, it is the modified part of the shoot of sperma ...
s appear in groups of one to four and have spherical flower-heads. The 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 that form after flowering are to around in length and wide. The shiny dark-brown seeds within are flat with an oblong to widely elliptic shape.
Distribution
The tree has only a small and series of isolated populations around the small town of
Muttaburra
Muttaburra is an outback town and locality in the Barcaldine Region, Queensland, Australia. Muttaburra was the discovery site of the ''Muttaburrasaurus'', one of Australia's most famous dinosaurs.
Geography
Muttaburra is in the central west ...
to around Elmore Station in an arid part of
central Queensland
Central Queensland is an ambiguous geographical division of Queensland ( a state in Australia) that centres on the eastern coast, around the Tropic of Capricorn. Its major regional centre is Rockhampton. The region extends from the Capricorn Coas ...
.
[ It has been collected as far south as around Winton north over a distance of to around Greenvale. The species occurs in an area of around with 15 sub-populations with an estimated total population of about 76,000 individual plants. It is usually part of on wooded downs or in open woodland communities often associated with '']Acacia cambagei
''Acacia cambagei'', commonly known as gidgee, stinking wattle, stinking gidgee in English, or gidjiirr, by transliteration from indigenous languages of north-western NSW, is an endemic tree of Australia. It is found primarily in semiarid and ...
'' and '' Atalaya hemiglauca'' growing in alluvial soils over and around sandstone
Sandstone is a clastic sedimentary rock composed mainly of sand-sized (0.0625 to 2 mm) silicate grains. Sandstones comprise about 20–25% of all sedimentary rocks.
Most sandstone is composed of quartz or feldspar (both silicates ...
and basalt
Basalt (; ) is an aphanitic (fine-grained) extrusive igneous rock formed from the rapid cooling of low-viscosity lava rich in magnesium and iron (mafic lava) exposed at or very near the surface of a rocky planet or moon. More than 90 ...
. It was declared as vulnerable in accordance with the Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation Act 1999
The ''Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation Act 1999'' (Cth) is an Act of the Parliament of Australia that provides a framework for protection of the Australian environment, including its biodiversity and its natural and cult ...
in 2008.
See also
* List of Acacia species
References
{{Taxonbar, from=Q9563732
crombiei
Flora of Queensland
Plants described in 1942