Acacia inaequilatera flowers and legumes

''Acacia inaequilatera'', commonly known as kanji bush, baderi, camel bush, fire wattle, kanyji bush or ranji bush is a

tree In botany, a tree is a perennial plant with an elongated stem, or trunk, usually supporting branches and leaves. In some usages, the definition of a tree may be narrower, including only woody plants with secondary growth, plants that are ...

in the

family Family (from la, familia) is a Social group, group of people related either by consanguinity (by recognized birth) or Affinity (law), affinity (by marriage or other relationship). The purpose of the family is to maintain the well-being of its ...

Mimosaceae. Endemic to

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 ...

, it is widely distributed in the semi-arid ''Triodia'' country eastwards from Karratha,

Western Australia Western Australia (commonly abbreviated as WA) is a state of Australia occupying the western percent of the land area of Australia excluding external territories. It is bounded by the Indian Ocean to the north and west, the Southern Ocean to th ...

into the

Northern Territory The Northern Territory (commonly abbreviated as NT; formally the Northern Territory of Australia) is an states and territories of Australia, Australian territory in the central and central northern regions of Australia. The Northern Territory ...

Description

Kanji bush is a gnarled tree or shrub with a single trunk, corky bark, spiny foliage and stems. It grows to a height of between but can reach as high as .* It has thick, rough, corky, dark grey to black coloured bark on the main trunk that is often scarred by fire. Like most ''

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 ...

'' species, 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. These are a blue-grey colour, with a curved midrib and a short spine at the tip. There is also a pair of curved spines at the base of each leaf. The leathery phyllodes have an asymmetrically ovate to elliptic shape. They are in length and wide and the apex terminates in a needle-sharp tip. Unusually for ''Acacia'' species, the flowers are not pure yellow, but rather yellow with a reddish purple centre. The flowers occur between May and October. are held in spherical clusters about in diameter. The pods are flat and curved, up to long and wide. They can be strongly curved to coiled and are raised high over the seeds and slightly constricted between. The pods have a pale maroon colour when young but deepen to a mid-brown or pinkish-purplish brown as they age. The dull dark brown seeds within are arranged longitudinally oblique within the pod. Each seed has a length of and has an obloid to globose shape. Kanji bush is very fire tolerant and colonises rapidly after a bushfire. It is able to regenerate from or and resprout from the base or

epicormic An epicormic shoot is a shoot growing from an epicormic bud, which lies underneath the bark of a trunk, stem, or branch of a plant. Epicormic buds lie dormant beneath the bark, their growth suppressed by hormones from active shoots higher up ...

ally It is short-lived, lasting less than ten years.

Taxonomy

The species was first formally described by the botanist Karel Domin in 1926 in the work ''Beitrage zur Flora und Pflanzengeographie Australiens'' as published in ''Bibliotheca Botanica''. It was reclassified as ''Racosperma inaequilaterum'' in 2003 and transferred back to the genus ''Acacia'' in 2006. The

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 ...

is derived from the

Latin Latin (, or , ) is a classical language belonging to the Italic branch of the Indo-European languages. Latin was originally a dialect spoken in the lower Tiber area (then known as Latium) around present-day Rome, but through the power of the ...

word ''inaequilatera'' meaning ''with unequal sides'', referring to the very asymmetric phyllodes. ''A. inaequilerata'' is closely related to '' Acacia trudgeniana'' and has inflorescences and phyllodes resembling those of '' Acacia marramamba'', it is also often confused with ''

Acacia pyrifolia ''Acacia pyrifolia'', commonly known as ranji bush is a shrub that is endemic to the north of Western Australia. Description The bush or tree typically grows to a maximum height of and has smooth grey bark on the main stem and branched with mor ...

''.

Distribution

It has a scattered distribution throughout arid areas of the north western tip 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 ...

, the south western parts of the

and the

Pilbara The Pilbara () is a large, dry, thinly populated region in the north of Western Australia. It is known for its Aboriginal peoples; its ancient landscapes; the red earth; and its vast mineral deposits, in particular iron ore. It is also a glo ...

and southern parts of 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 ...

regions of

where it is found on rocky hillsides, stony hills and plains growing in sandy to loamy stony soils. It is often part of tall shrubland communities with a spinifex understorey.

Uses

Indigenous Australian Indigenous Australians or Australian First Nations are people with familial heritage from, and membership in, the ethnic groups that lived in Australia before British colonisation. They consist of two distinct groups: the Aboriginal peoples ...

s used the seeds of the plant as raw bush tucker or after roasting over a fire or grinding the seeds into a flour and preparing as damper. After grinding the seeds can also be used to make a beverage resembling coffee. The seeds, as for most ''Acacia'' are quite nutritious and contain around 26% protein, 2% carbohydrate and 9% fat Acacia seeds are highly nutritious and contain around 26% protein, 26% available carbohydrate, 32% fibre and 9% fat. An edible gum also exudes from the trunk and branches. The bark was also used for medicinal purposes to treat skin complains and sores by boiling in water or using the ash from burning it in fire. The tannins leached out of the bark in water make an astringent solution which were taken to treat

diarrhoea Diarrhea, also spelled diarrhoea, is the condition of having at least three loose, liquid, or watery bowel movements each day. It often lasts for a few days and can result in dehydration due to fluid loss. Signs of dehydration often begin wi ...

and dysentery.

References

External links