''Acacia gladiiformis'', commonly known as sword wattle or sword-leaf wattle, 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 native to parts of eastern Australia.
Description
The shrub typically grows to a height of and has an open habit.
[ It has narrowly oblanceolate, shaped ]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 with a length of and a width of and has a prominent midvein and margins. It usually blooms between July and October producing inflorescences that appear in clusters of 3 to 12 found in axillary racemes. The axis usually has a length of with spherical flower-heads with a diameter of containing 30 to 50 bright yellow flowers. After flowering thin leathery brown flat seed pods form that are straight to slightly curved. the pods have a length of and a width of .
Taxonomy
The species was first formally described by the botanist George Bentham from specimens collected by Allan Cunningham in 1842 as part of William Jackson Hooker
Sir William Jackson Hooker (6 July 178512 August 1865) was an English botanist and botanical illustrator, who became the first director of Kew when in 1841 it was recommended to be placed under state ownership as a botanic garden. At Kew he ...
's work ''Notes on Mimoseae, with a synopsis of species'' as published in the ''London Journal of Botany''. It was reclassified as ''Racosperma gladiiforme'' in 2003 by Leslie Pedley then transferred back to the genus ''Acacia'' in 2006.specific epithet
In taxonomy, binomial nomenclature ("two-term naming system"), also called nomenclature ("two-name naming system") or binary nomenclature, is a formal system of naming species of living things by giving each a name composed of two parts, bot ...
it taken from the Latin word for sword
A sword is an edged, bladed weapon intended for manual cutting or thrusting. Its blade, longer than a knife or dagger, is attached to a hilt and can be straight or curved. A thrusting sword tends to have a straighter blade with a pointed ti ...
in reference to the shape of the phyllodes.[
]
Distribution
It is found on the tablelands and western slopes of the Great Dividing Range
The Great Dividing Range, also known as the East Australian Cordillera or the Eastern Highlands, is a cordillera system in eastern Australia consisting of an expansive collection of mountain ranges, plateaus and rolling hills, that runs rough ...
in New South Wales from Warialda in the north through to Cowra in the south as a part of '' Eucalyptus'' woodland communities growing in rocky[
]
See also
* List of ''Acacia'' species
References
{{Taxonbar, from=Q9564941
gladiiformis
Flora of New South Wales
Flora of Queensland
Plants described in 1842
Taxa named by George Bentham