''Acacia leptospermoides'' 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'' and is
endemic to a large area of south western
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 fleshy leafed shrub typically grows to a height of
[ and has glabrous or hairy branchlets with connate caducous stipules that are about in length. 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 grey-green and fleshy phyllodes have a linear to obovate or orbicular shape and are planoconvex or horizontally flattened. The phyllodes are usually in length and with three faint nerves beneath and one nerve above.[ The simple inflorescences are found singly or in pairs in the ]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 ...
s with showy spherical flowerheads with a diameter of containing 20 to 35 golden coloured flowers. Following flowering thinly coriaceous-crustaceous and glabrous seed pods form. The pods have a linear shape and are constricted a little between each of the seeds and are arcuate to openly once-coiled with a length of up to and a width of and longitudinally arranged seeds inside. The shiny mottled or brown seeds have an oblong to elliptic shape with a length of and an oblique aril
An aril (pronounced ), also called an arillus, is a specialized outgrowth from a seed that partly or completely covers the seed. An arillode or false aril is sometimes distinguished: whereas an aril grows from the attachment point of the see ...
.[
]
Taxonomy
The species was first formally described by the botanist George Bentham in 1855 as part of the work ''Plantae Muellerianae: Mimoseae'' as published in the journal ''Linnaea: ein Journal für die Botanik in ihrem ganzen Umfange, oder Beiträge zur Pflanzenkunde''. It was reclassified as ''Racosperma leptospermoides'' in 2003 by Leslie Pedley then transferred back to genus ''Acacia'' in 2006.subspecies
In biological classification, subspecies is a rank below species, used for populations that live in different areas and vary in size, shape, or other physical characteristics (morphology), but that can successfully interbreed. Not all species ...
* ''Acacia leptospermoides subsp. leptospermoides''
* ''Acacia leptospermoides subsp. obovata''
* ''Acacia leptospermoides subsp. psammophila''[
]
Distribution
It is native to an area in the Great Southern, Wheatbelt and Mid West
The Midwestern United States, also referred to as the Midwest or the American Midwest, is one of four census regions of the United States Census Bureau (also known as "Region 2"). It occupies the northern central part of the United States. I ...
regions of Western Australia where it is commonly situated on sand ridges and sand plains growing in gravelly sandy, loamy or clay soils often around laterite
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 ...
.Shark Bay
Shark Bay (Malgana: ''Gathaagudu'', "two waters") is a World Heritage Site in the Gascoyne region of Western Australia. The http://www.environment.gov.au/heritage/places/world/shark-bay area is located approximately north of Perth, on the ...
in the north west to around Cranbrook and Wagin in the south east.[
]
See also
* List of ''Acacia'' species
References
{{Taxonbar, from=Q9566271
leptospermoides
Acacias of Western Australia
Taxa named by George Bentham
Plants described in 1855