''Acacia falcata'', commonly known as sickle wattle and by other vernacular names including sally, is a

perennial A perennial plant or simply perennial is a plant that lives more than two years. The term ('' per-'' + '' -ennial'', "through the years") is often used to differentiate a plant from shorter-lived annuals and biennials. The term is also wid ...

shrub or

tree In botany, a tree is a perennial plant with an elongated stem, or trunk, usually supporting branches and leaves. In some usages, the definition of a tree may be narrower, including only woody plants with secondary growth, plants that are ...

native to eastern Australia, which reaches five metres in height and has cream flowers in early winter. It gets its common and scientific name for its sickle-shaped leaves. Hardy and adaptable to cultivation, it is used in regeneration of bushland.

Taxonomy

German botanist

Carl Ludwig Willdenow Carl Ludwig Willdenow (22 August 1765 – 10 July 1812) was a German botanist, pharmacist, and plant taxonomist. He is considered one of the founders of phytogeography, the study of the geographic distribution of plants. Willdenow was al ...

was the first to officially describe the sickle wattle in 1806, although his countryman

Johann Christoph Wendland Johann Christoph Wendland (July 17, 1755 – July 27, 1828) was a German botanist and gardener born in Petit-Landau, Alsace. Family His son, Heinrich Ludolph Wendland (1791–1869), and his grandson, Hermann Wendland (1825–1903), ...

had given it the name ''Mimosa obliqua'' in 1798, this was deemed an

illegitimate name ''Nomen illegitimum'' (Latin for illegitimate name) is a technical term, used mainly in botany. It is usually abbreviated as ''nom. illeg.'' Although the International Code of Nomenclature for algae, fungi, and plants uses Latin terms for other ki ...

. The species name 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 ''falx'' "sickle". Some common names for it are burra, sally, sickle-shaped acacia and silver-leaved wattle.

Description

Found as a shrub or small tree from high, ''Acacia falcata'' has grey or black bark. Like most wattles it has phyllodes rather than leaves. These are a pale green or grey-green and sickle-shaped, measuring in length, by wide with a prominent mid vein. The small round flowers are cream or pale-yellow and appear in early winter from April to August. These are followed by thin seed pods which are long and wide. The pods mature from September to December.

Distribution and habitat

The range is from Queensland south through eastern New South Wales to Bermagui on the south coast. It grows predominantly on shale soils in open forest, and is associated with such trees as ''

Eucalyptus paniculata ''Eucalyptus paniculata'', commonly known as grey ironbark, is a species of tree that is endemic to New South Wales. It has dark-coloured, deeply furrowed ironbark on the trunk and branches, lance-shaped to curved adult leaves, flower buds in gro ...

'', '' E. longifolia'' and '' E. tereticornis''. Naturalised, it has been recorded in Java in Indonesia, and in North Island in New Zealand.

Ecology

Plants live for five to twenty years in the wild, and are killed by bushfire. The seed is released in December, and dispersed by wind. It is stored in the soil, although it is unclear how related germination is to bushfire. Seed can germinate in disturbed areas. ''Acacia falcata'' is the host plant for the imperial hairstreak ('' Jalmenus evagoras''). One field study recovered 98 species of bug ( hemiptera) from ''A. falcata'' across its range.

Cultivation and uses

''Acacia falcata'' is adaptable to a wide range of soils in cultivation, and its attractive foliage is a horticultural feature. It is propagated by seed which must be pretreated with boiling water before it is able to germinate. It is easy to grow given a good sunlit position and good drainage, and is used in revegetation. Australian indigenous people use the bark to make a liniment for treating ailments of the skin. ''A. falcata'' is excellent for stabilizing barren sand. The bark is important in the

tanning Tanning may refer to: *Tanning (leather), treating animal skins to produce leather *Sun tanning, using the sun to darken pale skin **Indoor tanning, the use of artificial light in place of the sun **Sunless tanning, application of a stain or dye t ...

industry. The 1889 book ''The Useful Native Plants of Australia'' records that common names included 'hickory' and 'sally' and that Indigenous Australians of the Cumberland and Camden areas of New South Wales referred to it as "Weetjellan". It also notes that "This bark, which contains much tannin, was used by the Aboriginals ic.of the counties of Cumberland and Camden to stupefy fish, and to make embrocations for the cure of cutaneous diseases."

References

{{Taxonbar, from=Q2715292

falcata The falcata is a type of sword typical of pre-Roman Iberia. The falcata was used to great effect for warfare in the ancient Iberian peninsula, and is firmly associated with the southern Iberian tribes, among other ancient peoples of Hispania. ...

Fabales of Australia Trees of New Zealand Trees of Australia Flora of New South Wales Flora of Queensland Shrubs Medicinal plants of Australia