''Acacia exigua'', commonly known as muntalkura wattle,
is a species of
wattle
Wattle or wattles may refer to:
Plants
*''Acacia sensu lato'', polyphyletic genus of plants commonly known as wattle, especially in Australia and South Africa
**''Acacia'', large genus of shrubs and trees, native to Australasia
**Black wattle, c ...
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''. The
Kurrama
The Kurrama people, also known as the Puutu Kunti Kurrama people, are an Aboriginal Australian people from the Pilbara region of Western Australia.
The Puutu Kunti Kurrama and Pinikura peoples, although of different language groups, are represe ...
peoples know the tree as jonanyong or jananyung. It is native to an area of the
Pilbara region of
Western Australia.
Description
The shrub or small tree will typically grow to a height of . It can be single-stemmed or will have up to six erect and crooked stems arising from ground level. The trunk or stems has longitudinally fissured grey coloured bark that becomes smooth on the branches. Older specimens have an open branched habit forming a sparse to moderately dense 'v'-shape with soft foliage of the crown confined to ends of branches. It has dull green
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 that are long and slender with a length of and a diameter of around .
[ Its flowering period is between May to July, and sometimes even goes until August. Pods with mature seeds are found in the months of October and November. It is commonly mistaken for Acacia tenuissima, as they commonly grow together. But it is differentiated by color on the flower, with A. tenuissima having a paler yellow.
]
Taxonomy
The species was first formally described in 1982 by the botanist Bruce Maslin as part of the work ''Studies in the genus Acacia (Leguminosae: Mimosoideae). Acacia species of the Hamersley Range area, Western Australia'' as published in the journal '' Nuytsia''. It was reclassified as ''Racosperma exile'' in 2003 by Leslie Pedley and transferred into the genus ''Acacia'' in 2006. ''Acacia exilis'' is often considered a synonym.
Distribution
''A. exigua'' has a limited distribution in the Pilbara confined to the Hamersley Range mostly around Tom Price from about Hamersley Station and around Mount Windell. It is found on rocky slopes and in valleys of creeks and rivers and on low undulating rocky hills. It grows in sandy, clay, gravelly soils that are rich in iron and are formed from Marra Mamba and Brockman Iron formations. It is commonly associated with other species of ''Acacia'' including ''Acacia ancistrocarpa
''Acacia ancistrocarpa'', commonly known as fitzroy wattle, is a shrub belonging to the genus ''Acacia'' and the subgenus ''Juliflorae''. The shrub is also known as fish hook wattle, pindan wattle and shiny leaved wattle.
The Walmajarri people ...
'', ''Acacia aneura
''Acacia aneura'', commonly known as mulga or true mulga, is a shrub or small tree native to arid outback areas of Australia. It is the dominant tree in the habitat to which it gives its name ( mulga) that occurs across much of inland Australia. ...
'', '' Acacia atkinsiana'', '' Acacia pruinocarpa'' and '' Acacia xiphophylla'' usually with a '' spinifex'' also present as a ground cover.[
]
See also
* List of ''Acacia'' species
References
{{Taxonbar, from2=Q9564611, from1=Q42889655
exigua
''Exigua'' (synonym: ''Brassicicephalus'') is an extinct genus from a well-known class of fossil marine arthropods, the trilobites. It lived from 501 to 497 million years ago during the Dresbachian faunal stage of the late Cambrian Period. Exigu ...
Acacias of Western Australia
Plants described in 1982
Taxa named by Bruce Maslin