''Acacia cylindrica'' 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 ''Juliflorae'' that is

endemic Endemism is the state of a species being found in a single defined geographic location, such as an island, state, nation, country or other defined zone; organisms that are indigenous to a place are not endemic to it if they are also found elsew ...

to western

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 spreading shrub typically grows to a height of . It has apically resin-ribbed branchlets that are

sericeous 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, ste ...

between the glabrous ribs. 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 evergreen phyllodes are straight with a terete or quadrangular-terete shape. They are in length and wide and quite rigid with longitudinal grooves between nerves. It has 16 closely parallel nerves of which 8 are usually visible. It blooms from August to October producing yellow flowers.

Taxonomy

The species was first formally described by the botanists

Bruce Maslin Bruce Roger Maslin (born 3 May 1946) is an Australian botanist, known for his work on ''Acacia'' taxonomy. Born in Bridgetown, Western Australia, he obtained an honours degree in botany from the University of Western Australia in 1967, then to ...

and

Richard Sumner Cowan Richard Sumner Cowan (January 23, 1921 – November 17, 1997) was an American botanist. Early life Richard Sumner Cowan was born on January 23, 1921, in Crawfordsville, Indiana. His family moved to Florida and he was educated in the Tampa, Flor ...

in 1995 as a part of the work ''Acacia Miscellany. New taxa and notes on previously described taxa of Acacia, mostly section Juliflorae (Leguminosae: Mimosoideae), in Western Australia'' as published in the journal ''

Nuytsia ''Nuytsia floribunda'' is a hemiparasitic tree found in Western Australia. The species is known locally as moodjar and, more recently, the Christmas tree or Western Australian Christmas tree. The display of intensely bright flowers during the ...

''. It was reclassified as ''Racosperma cylindricum'' in 2003 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 ...

then transferred back to genus ''Acacia'' in 2006.

Distribution

It is native to an area in the Wheatbelt 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 is found on flats and undulating plains growing in gravelly sandy soils as a part of scrub-land communities. The bulk of the population is situated between

Southern Cross Crux () is a constellation of the southern sky that is centred on four bright stars in a cross-shaped asterism commonly known as the Southern Cross. It lies on the southern end of the Milky Way's visible band. The name ''Crux'' is Latin for c ...

in the south east to around

Bullfinch Bullfinch is a name given to two groups of passerine birds. True bullfinches The true bullfinches are thick-billed finches in the passerine family Fringillidae. They comprise the genus ''Pyrrhula''. These birds are restricted to the Old World, an ...

in the north west with other smaller populations found further to the north.

References

{{Taxonbar, from=Q9563830 cylindrica Acacias of Western Australia Plants described in 1995 Taxa named by Bruce Maslin Taxa named by Richard Sumner Cowan

Description

Taxonomy

Distribution

See also

References