''Acacia latifolia'' 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 ''Juliflorae'' that is endemic to tropical parts of northern

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 spindly erect shrub typically grows to a height of . It has smooth brown bark and flattened tawny yellow or brown glabrous branchlets that are The thin green obliquely narrowly lanceolate to elliptic

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 length of and a width of with three to five conspicuous, longitudinal nerves. It blooms from May and July to August or October producing yellow flowers. The golden flower-spikes are around in length. The linear brown seed pods that form after flowering have a linear shape with straight sides. The pods are in length and wide with prominent pale margins. The brown seeds found inside the pods have an oblong-elliptic shape and around in length.

Taxonomy

It was first formally named by the botanist George Bentham in 1842 as part of

William Jackson Hooker Sir William Jackson Hooker (6 July 178512 August 1865) was an English botanist and botanical illustrator, who became the first director of Kew when in 1841 it was recommended to be placed under state ownership as a botanic garden. At Kew he ...

's work ''Notes on Mimoseae, with a synopsis of species'' as published in the '' London Journal of Botany''. It was reclassified as ''Racosperma latifolium'' by Leslie Pedley in 1987 and then transferred back to genus''Acacia'' in 2001.

Distribution

It is native to several small areas in 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 growing is sandy soils over sandstone. It also has a disjunct distribution in the top end of the Northern Territory and the north western corner of Queensland. It is often found on sandstone plateaux, on cliffs and along watercourses in gullies or in crevices amongst rocky outcrops. It is found around basalt or quartzite growing in stony, sandy and alluvial soils as a part of mixed shrubland communities.

References

{{Taxonbar, from=Q15287565 latifolia Acacias of Western Australia Plants described in 1842 Taxa named by George Bentham Flora of the Northern Territory Flora of Queensland

Description

Taxonomy

Distribution

See also

References