''Acacia decora'' is a plant 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 ...

. Common names include the western silver wattle and the showy wattle. The species name refers to the plant's ''decorative'' qualities.

Description

The shrub typically grows to in height and has an erect to spreading habit. It has angled reddish to brown branchlets that are appressed-hairy when young and becoming

glabrescent 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 ...

with age. 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. It has variable foliage and the

s are generally thin with a narrowly elliptic to oblanceolate or obovate shape. The phyllodes are in length and wide with a prominent midvein and obscure or faint lateral nerves. It blooms between April and October producing bright yellow flowers. The

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 are found in groups to 5 to 15 in axillary

raceme A raceme ( or ) or racemoid is an unbranched, indeterminate type of inflorescence bearing flowers having short floral stalks along the shoots that bear the flowers. The oldest flowers grow close to the base and new flowers are produced as the s ...

with spherical flower-heads that have a diameter of and contain 15 to 30 bright yellow flowers.

Taxonomy

The species was first formally described in 1829 by the botanist

Ludwig Reichenbach Heinrich Gottlieb Ludwig Reichenbach (8 January 1793 – 17 March 1879) was a German botanist and ornithologist. It was he who first requested Leopold Blaschka to make a set of glass marine invertebrate models for scientific education and museu ...

as part of the work ''Iconographia Botanica Exotica''. It was reclassified as ''Racosperma decorum'' in 1987 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 Genus ( plural genera ) is a taxonomic rank used in the biological classification of extant taxon, living and fossil organisms as well as Virus classification#ICTV classification, viruses. In the hierarchy of biological classification, genus com ...

''Acacia'' in 2014. There are many other synonyms for this species including ''Acacia decora'' var. ''decora'', ''Acacia caleyi'', ''Acacia podalyriifolia'' var. ''caleyi'' and ''Acacia buxifolia'' var. ''decora''. The

specific Specific may refer to: * Specificity (disambiguation) * Specific, a cure or therapy for a specific illness Law * Specific deterrence, focussed on an individual * Specific finding, intermediate verdict used by a jury in determining the fina ...

epithet 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 ...

word ''decorus'' in reference to the plants graceful appearance.

Distribution

The shrub is found down the east coast of Australia extending from north

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 , established_ ...

down to Victoria. In New South Wales, showy wattle occurs west of the

Great Dividing Range The Great Dividing Range, also known as the East Australian Cordillera or the Eastern Highlands, is a cordillera system in eastern Australia consisting of an expansive collection of mountain ranges, plateaus and rolling hills, that runs rough ...

while in Queensland it extends to the coast, commonly seen in semi arid areas of the states of

New South Wales ) , nickname = , image_map = New South Wales in Australia.svg , map_caption = Location of New South Wales in AustraliaCoordinates: , subdivision_type = Country , subdivision_name = Australia , established_title = Before federation , es ...

and Victoria and throughout

. It is sometimes seen in wetter areas in dry

sclerophyll Sclerophyll is a type of vegetation that is adapted to long periods of dryness and heat. The plants feature hard leaf, leaves, short Internode (botany), internodes (the distance between leaves along the stem) and leaf orientation which is paral ...

forest. Its range extends from around

Cooktown Cooktown is a coastal town and locality in the Shire of Cook, Queensland, Australia. Cooktown is at the mouth of the Endeavour River, on Cape York Peninsula in Far North Queensland where James Cook beached his ship, the Endeavour, for repairs ...

in the north down to the Warby Range of Victoria in the south growing in stony sandy soils as a part of ''

Eucalyptus ''Eucalyptus'' () is a genus of over seven hundred species of flowering trees, shrubs or mallees in the myrtle family, Myrtaceae. Along with several other genera in the tribe Eucalypteae, including '' Corymbia'', they are commonly known as euca ...

'' woodland communities.

Cultivation

''A. decora'' is a hardy species which can tolerate a wide range of conditions. It grows best in well drained soils and in a full sun to partly shady position. It can be grown from seed but must be pretreated by scarification or with boiling water.

References

{{Taxonbar, from=Q4670922 decora Fabales of Australia Shrubs Entheogens Flora of New South Wales Flora of Queensland Flora of Victoria (state) Garden plants of Australia Plants described in 1829 Taxa named by Ludwig Reichenbach

Description

Taxonomy

Distribution

Cultivation

See also

References