''Acacia kelleri'' is a tree or 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 ''Juliflorae'' that is endemic to north western Australia.
Description
The tree or shrub is openly branched, slender and often weeping, it typically grows to a height of
[ and has fissured grey coloured bark. The light to dark brown branchlets are terete and woolly. The crowded and erect ]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 have a linear to narrowly lanceolate shape. the phyllodes are straight to slightly curved and in length with a width of .[ The densely covered flower spikes are in length. Following flowering red brown seed pods for that are up to in length and long.][
]
Taxonomy
The plant was first formally described by the 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 1892 as part of the work ''Observations on plants, collected during Mr Joseph Bradshaw's expedition to the Prince Regent's river'' published in ''Proceedings of the Linnean Society of New South Wales''. The species was reclassified as ''Racosperma kelleri'' in 2003 by Leslie Pedley then transferred back to the genus ''Acacia'' in 2006.
The type specimen was collected by Joseph Bradshaw in 1891 near Prince Regent River
The Prince Regent River is a river in the Kimberley region of Western Australia.
The headwaters of the river rise in the Caroline Range near Mount Agnes then flow in a north westerly direction. The river enters and flows through the Prince Reg ...
.[
]
Distribution
It is native to an area in the Northern Territory and 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 of Western Australia where it is found on rocky escarpments and stony creek beds growing in skeletal soils over sandstone.
/ref>
See also
* List of ''Acacia'' species
References
{{Taxonbar, from=Q9565840
kelleri
Acacias of Western Australia
Flora of the Northern Territory
Plants described in 1892
Taxa named by Ferdinand von Mueller