''Acacia howittii'', commonly known as sticky wattle or Howitt's wattle, is a tree species 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 Victoria,

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 an erect or spreading habit, growing up to high and it has pendulous and slender branchlets with pubescent ribs. Like most species of ''Acacia'' it has phyllodes rather than true leaves The

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 are up to in length and wide. The thin dark green phyllodes have a narrowly elliptic to lanceolate shape with two to three distinct nerves per face. The globular pale-yellow flowerheads appear in the leaf axils in October (in Australia). The simple

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 occur singly or in pairs in the

axil A leaf ( : leaves) is any of the principal appendages of a vascular plant stem, usually borne laterally aboveground and specialized for photosynthesis. Leaves are collectively called foliage, as in "autumn foliage", while the leaves, st ...

s and have spherical flower-heads that contain 12 to 20 pale yellow lemon yellow flowers. Following flowering straight

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 form that are up to long The firmly chartaceous to thinly coriaceous brown seed pods have a narrowly oblong to linear shape with a width of and are mostly glabrous but are hairy around the margins. The seeds inside are arranged longitudinally. The shiny dark brown seeds have an oblong shape with a length of and have a terminal

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 ...

Taxonomy

The species was first formally described by Victorian Government Botanist

Ferdinand von Mueller Baron Sir Ferdinand Jacob Heinrich von Mueller, (german: Müller; 30 June 1825 – 10 October 1896) was a German-Australian physician, geographer, and most notably, a botanist. He was appointed government botanist for the then colony of Vict ...

in ''The Victorian Naturalist '' in 1893. Mueller's description was based on material collected by

Alfred William Howitt Alfred William Howitt , (17 April 1830 – 7 March 1908), also known by author abbreviation A.W. Howitt, was an Australian anthropologist, explorer and naturalist. He was known for leading the Victorian Relief Expedition, which set out to es ...

, for whom the species is named. It was reclassified as ''Racosperma howittii'' 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 2003 but was transferred back to

genus Genus ( plural genera ) is a taxonomic rank used in the biological classification of extant taxon, living and fossil organisms as well as Virus classification#ICTV classification, viruses. In the hierarchy of biological classification, genus com ...

''Acacia'' in 2006. It belongs to the ''

Acacia verniciflua ''Acacia verniciflua'', commonly known as varnish wattle, is a shrub or small tree species that is endemic to Australia. It has an erect or spreading habit, growing to between 1 and 6 metres high, The phyllodes are often sticky and lustrous an ...

'' complex where

hybrid Hybrid may refer to: Science * Hybrid (biology), an offspring resulting from cross-breeding ** Hybrid grape, grape varieties produced by cross-breeding two ''Vitis'' species ** Hybridity, the property of a hybrid plant which is a union of two dif ...

s occur between ''A. howittii'' and the Dandenong variant of ''

Acacia leprosa ''Acacia leprosa'', also known as cinnamon wattle, is an acacia native to Australia. It occurs in woodland in New South Wales and Victoria. It occurs as a hardy shrub or small tree. The phyllodes (a modified flat leaf-like structure arising thr ...

''.

Distribution

It is native to an area in eastern Victoria from around the from the upper reaches of the

Macalister River The Macalister River, a perennial river of the West Gippsland catchment, is located in the Alpine and Gippsland regions of the Australian state of Victoria. Location and features The Macalister River rises below Mount Howitt, part of the Great D ...

area near Mount Howitt in the north and down to around Yarram in the south and extending east to around Tabberabbera where it is usually situated in moist forest environments. Although regarded as a rare species, it is commonly cultivated, and has become naturalised in areas outside its original range.

References

{{Taxonbar, from=Q286226 howittii Flora of Victoria (state) Fabales of Australia Taxa named by Ferdinand von Mueller Plants described in 1893