''Acacia flabellifolia'' 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 ''Phyllodineae'' 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.

Description

The erect, spreading and pungent shrub typically grows to a height of . It has dimidiate 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 broadest near the middle. The phyllodes are in length with a width of . When it blooms it produces

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 that appear singly and have spherical flower-heads containing 15 to 17 yellow flowers. The

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 that form after flowering are coiled with a length of and wide.

Taxonomy

The species was first formally described by the botanist William Vincent Fitzgerald in 1904 as part of the work ''Additions to the West Australian Flora'' published in the ''Journal of the West Australian Natural History Society''. It was reclassified as ''Racosperma flabellifolium'' 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 into the genus ''Acacia'' in 2006. It is a part of the ''

Acacia pravifolia ''Acacia pravifolia'', commonly known as the coil-pod wattle, is a shrub of the genus ''Acacia'' and the subgenus ''Phyllodineae'' that is endemic to three areas of Australia. Description The intricate and prickly shrub typically grows to a hei ...

'' group and most closely related to ''

Acacia scalena ''Acacia scalena'' is a shrub of the genus ''Acacia'' and the subgenus ''Phyllodineae'' that is endemic to a small area in western Australia. Description The rigid prickly shrub typically grows to a height of . The glabrous, short, rigid and str ...

''. It also resembles '' Acacia dilatata'' but is less closely related.

Distribution

It is native to an area in the Wheatbelt and

Mid West The Midwestern United States, also referred to as the Midwest or the American Midwest, is one of four census regions of the United States Census Bureau (also known as "Region 2"). It occupies the northern central part of the United States. I ...

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 ...

from around

Dandaragan Dandaragan is a small town in the Wheatbelt region of Western Australia. The name of Dandaragan was first recorded in 1850 as the name of a nearby gulley and spring or watering hole known as Dandaraga spring. The word is Indigenous Australian i ...

in the south up to Irwin in the north where it is found on ridges and low hills growing in gravelly loamy soils as a part of open ''

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.

References

{{Taxonbar, from=Q9564713 flabellifolia Acacias of Western Australia Plants described in 1904 Taxa named by William Vincent Fitzgerald

Description

Taxonomy

Distribution

See also

References