''Acacia leiophylla'', commonly known as coast golden wattle, is a tree of the family
Mimosaceae
The Mimosoideae are a traditional subfamily of trees, herbs, lianas, and shrubs in the pea family (Fabaceae) that mostly grow in tropical and subtropical climates. They are typically characterized by having radially symmetric flowers, with petals ...
native to South Australia and Western Australia.
Description
The shrub or tree can grow to a maximum height of about . It has flexuose and
glabrous
Glabrousness (from the Latin '' glaber'' meaning "bald", "hairless", "shaved", "smooth") is the technical term for a lack of hair, down, setae, trichomes or other such covering. A glabrous surface may be a natural characteristic of all or part of ...
branchlets. Like most species of ''Acacia'' 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. The thinly coriaceous and glabrous evergreen phyllodes are sickle shaped with a length of and a width of and are narrow at the base with one main nerve per face and no lateral nerves.
Taxonomy
It was
described by botanist
George Bentham
George Bentham (22 September 1800 – 10 September 1884) was an English botanist, described by the weed botanist Duane Isely as "the premier systematic botanist of the nineteenth century". Born into a distinguished family, he initially studi ...
in the ''
London Journal of Botany'' in 1842.
Similar in appearance to ''
A. pycnantha'', it can be distinguished by its lighter phyllodes.
Distribution
It is situated along the south coast of South Australia where its range extends from around Coffin Bay on the
Eyre Peninsula
The Eyre Peninsula is a triangular peninsula in South Australia. It is bounded by the Spencer Gulf on the east, the Great Australian Bight on the west, and the Gawler Ranges to the north.
Originally called Eyre’s Peninsula, it was named aft ...
in the west to around
Mount Gambier
Mount Gambier is the second most populated city in South Australia, with an estimated urban population of 33,233 . The city is located on the slopes of Mount Gambier, a volcano in the south east of the state, about south-east of the capital Ad ...
in the east where it is mostly found growing in sandy or loamy soils as a part of open scrub communities and is often associated with Mallee ''
Eucalyptus
''Eucalyptus'' () is a genus of over seven hundred species of flowering trees, shrubs or mallees in the myrtle family, Myrtaceae. Along with several other genera in the tribe Eucalypteae, including '' Corymbia'', they are commonly known as euca ...
'' species.
[
]
See also
* List of ''Acacia'' species
References
{{Taxonbar, from=Q15287563
leiophylla
Fabales of Australia
Flora of South Australia
Taxa named by George Bentham
Plants described in 1842