''Acacia gracillima'' is a shrub or tree 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 native to north western
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 shrub or tree typically grows to a maximum height of and has dark red coloured
minni ritchi style bark. It has angular branchlets with slightly hairy ridges. 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 phyllodes have a linear shape that tapers slightly towards the base and can be slightly curved. The phyllodes have a length of and a width of and are covered in yellowish hairs that lie flat on the surface. They have one prominent nerve found near the dorsal margin and another two less prominent longitudinal nerves. It blooms between May and July producing golden flowers.
The cylindrical flower-spikes are in length and densely packed with bright yellow flowers. The greenish-brown
seed pods that form after flowering have a linear shape and are constricted between each seed. The villous and viscid pods are in length and contain longitudinally arranged seeds. The black-brown seeds have an oblong-elliptic shape with a small dark
areole that is surrounded by a closed pleurogram and a pale halo.
[
]
Distribution
It is endemic to the Kimberley
Kimberly or Kimberley may refer to:
Places and historical events
Australia
* Kimberley (Western Australia)
** Roman Catholic Diocese of Kimberley
* Kimberley Warm Springs, Tasmania
* Kimberley, Tasmania a small town
* County of Kimberley, a ...
region in northern Western Australia mostly on and around the Wunaamin-Miliwundi Ranges where it is often situated on rocky steep slopes and on savannah
A savanna or savannah is a mixed woodland-grassland (i.e. grassy woodland) ecosystem characterised by the trees being sufficiently widely spaced so that the Canopy (forest), canopy does not close. The open canopy allows sufficient light to rea ...
grasslands growing in rocky quartzite based soils.[
]
See also
* List of ''Acacia'' species
References
{{Taxonbar, from=Q42889657
gracillima
Acacias of Western Australia
Plants described in 1975
Taxa named by Mary Tindale