''Acacia huegelii'' 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'' native to Western Australia.
Description
The straggling spiny multi-stemmed shrub typically grows to a height of .
[ The branchlets can be either glabrous or slightly haired with erect stipules that are in length. The pungent 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 are broadest near the middle and are usually in length and wide.[ The simple inflorescences are arranged with one per ]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 ...
. The globular flowerhead contain 20 to 35 cream or white coloured flowers. Following flowering flat curved red-brown seed pods form that are up to 4long with a width of containing oblong mottled seeds.[
]
Taxonomy
The species was first formally described by the botanist George Bentham in 1837 as part of the work by Bentham, Stephan Endlicher
Stephan Ladislaus Endlicher also known as Endlicher István László (24 June 1804, Bratislava (Pozsony) – 28 March 1849, Vienna) was an Austrian botanist, numismatist and Sinologist. He was a director of the Botanical Garden of Vienna.
Bio ...
, Eduard Fenzl and Heinrich Wilhelm Schott entitled ''Enumeratio plantarum quas in Novae Hollandiae ora austro-occidentali ad fluvium Cygnorum et in Sinu Regis Georgii collegit Carolus liber baro de Hügel''.[ It was reclassified in 2003 as ''Racosperma huegelii'' by Leslie Pedley then transferred back to the genus ''Acacia'' in 2006.][
The species names honours Carl Alexander Anselm, Baron von Hugel, an Austrian naturalist who visited Western Australia in 1833][
''A. huegelii'' is closely related to '' Acacia forrestiana'' and has similar phyllodes to '']Acacia imparilis
''Acacia imparilis'' is a shrub belonging to the genus ''Acacia'' and the subgenus ''Phyllodineae'' that is endemic to south western Australia.
Description
The erect pungent shrub typically grows to a height of It has slender and pubescent stem ...
''.[
]
Distribution
It is native to an area along the south coast in the Peel and South West
The points of the compass are a set of horizontal, radially arrayed compass directions (or azimuths) used in navigation and cartography. A compass rose is primarily composed of four cardinal directions—north, east, south, and west—each sepa ...
regions of Western Australia where it is found on low ridges, flats and sand dunes growing in lateritic
Laterite is both a soil and a rock type rich in iron and aluminium and is commonly considered to have formed in hot and wet tropical areas. Nearly all laterites are of rusty-red coloration, because of high iron oxide content. They develop by ...
gravel or sandy soils.Agonis flexuosa
''Agonis flexuosa'' is a species of tree that grows in the south west of Western Australia. It is easily the most common of the ''Agonis'' species, and is one of the most recognisable trees of Western Australia, being commonly grown in parks an ...
'' and species of '' Kunzea''.[
]
See also
* List of ''Acacia'' species
References
External links
''Acacia huegelii'' Google images''Acacia huegelii'' World wide wattles
{{Taxonbar, from=Q15287365
huegelii
Acacias of Western Australia
Plants described in 1837
Taxa named by George Bentham