''Acacia georginae'' is a perennial tree which is native to arid areas of central Australia and has been introduced into the

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territori ...

. Common names for it include Georgina gidgee, Georgina gidyea and poison gidyea.

Description

The tree typically grows to a height of and has a dense crown with grey to white hairy branchlets. Like most species of ''Acacia'' it has phyllodes rather than true leaves. The grey-green hairy phyllodes have a narrowly elliptic shape and are straight to slightly recurves with a length of and a width of have one to three more prominent nerves than the many others that are closely parallel and indistinct in comparison. It blooms between May and August and produces seed pods between September and December.

Taxonomy

The species was first formally described by the botanist

Frederick Manson Bailey Frederick Manson Bailey (8 March 1827 – 25 June 1915) was a botanist active in Australia, who made valuable contributions to the characterisation of the flora of Queensland. He was known by his middle name, Manson. Early life Bailey was bo ...

in 1896 as a part of the work ''Botany. Contributions to the Flora of Queensland'' as published in the ''Botany Bulletin. Department of Agriculture, Queensland''. It was reclassified as ''Racosperma georginae'' 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 ...

in 1987 then transferred back to genus ''Acacia'' in 2001. The specific epithet recognizes the place that the

type specimen In biology, a type is a particular specimen (or in some cases a group of specimens) of an organism to which the scientific name of that organism is formally attached. In other words, a type is an example that serves to anchor or centralizes th ...

was collected, along the

Georgina River The Georgina River is the north-westernmost of the three major rivers of the Channel Country in Central West Queensland, that also flows through a portion of the Northern Territory, in central Australia. Part of the Lake Eyre basin, the Geor ...

Distribution

Georgina gidgee woodlands have a patchy but widespread distribution in central Australia and are considered Vulnerable (VU) according to the

IUCN Red List of Ecosystems The IUCN Red List of Ecosystems (RLE) is a global framework for monitoring and documenting the status of ecosystems. It was developed by the International Union for Conservation of Nature for biodiversity risk assessment. Its main objectives are ...

. It is widely distributed through arid parts central and eastern Australia from the south eastern

Northern Territory The Northern Territory (commonly abbreviated as NT; formally the Northern Territory of Australia) is an Australian territory in the central and central northern regions of Australia. The Northern Territory shares its borders with Western Aust ...

in the west extending into

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 , establishe ...

to around the catchment of the

in the north east and into the far north east of

South Australia South Australia (commonly abbreviated as SA) is a state in the southern central part of Australia. It covers some of the most arid parts of the country. With a total land area of , it is the fourth-largest of Australia's states and territories ...

in the south east where it is usually situated along water courses or on plains growing in loamy or clay soils as a part of low open woodland communities.

Uses

Its uses include timber and fuel. Primarily the seed pods can be extremely poisonous, since they may contain what are called organic

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