''Acacia filipes'' 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 a small area in northern

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 and a width of around . It has slender and angular branchlets that are ribbed and resinous. 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 and terete phyllodes are glabrous and have a length of and a diameter of with a callus oblique point at the end and eight parallel and longitudinal nerves. It blooms in February and fruits in May. The cylindrical flower-spikes with a length of that occur in pairs at the base of rudimentary axillary shoots on slender stalks; peduncles slender with a length of . After flowering woody, flat and linear

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 with a length of and a width of . The dark grey seeds with a length of and a width of with a cupular

aril An aril (pronounced ), also called an arillus, is a specialized outgrowth from a seed that partly or completely covers the seed. An arillode or false aril is sometimes distinguished: whereas an aril grows from the attachment point of the see ...

Distribution

It is native to a small area in Kakadu National Park in the

Northern Territory The Northern Territory (commonly abbreviated as NT; formally the Northern Territory of Australia) is an states and territories of Australia, Australian territory in the central and central northern regions of Australia. The Northern Territory ...

mostly within Deaf Adder gorge where it is situated on top of

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) ...

escarpments as a part of open woodland communities.

References

{{Taxonbar, from=Q15287030 filifolia Flora of the Northern Territory Taxa named by Leslie Pedley Plants described in 1999

Description

Distribution

See also

References