''Acacia meiantha'' is a species of flowering plant in the family
and the subgenus ''Phyllodineae'' that is
endemic
Endemism is the state of a species being found in a single defined geographic location, such as an island, state, nation, country or other defined zone; organisms that are indigenous to a place are not endemic to it if they are also found elsew ...
to a small area in eastern
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 was listed as
Endangered
An endangered species is a species that is very likely to become extinct in the near future, either worldwide or in a particular political jurisdiction. Endangered species may be at risk due to factors such as habitat loss, poaching and inva ...
in 2018 according to the ''
Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation Act 1999
The ''Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation Act 1999'' (Cth) is an Act of the Parliament of Australia that provides a framework for protection of the Australian environment, including its biodiversity and its natural and cultu ...
''.
Description
The shrub has an erect or sometimes straggling habit and can grow to a height of around and often spreads by
suckering
Basal shoots, root sprouts, adventitious shoots, and suckers are words for various kinds of shoots that grow from adventitious buds on the base of a tree or shrub, or from adventitious buds on its roots. Shoots that grow from buds on the base o ...
. It has smooth greenish brown to grey or light brown coloured bark and angled hairy 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 crowded,
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 ...
and evergreen phyllodes are straight to slightly curved, with a length of and a width of and have an indistinct midvein. It blooms between July and October producing yellow flowers. The simple
inflorescence
An inflorescence is a group or cluster of flowers arranged on a stem that is composed of a main branch or a complicated arrangement of branches. Morphologically, it is the modified part of the shoot of seed plants where flowers are formed o ...
s are found in groups of 2 to 19 in an axillary raceme. The spherical flower-heads have a diameter of and contain four to eight yellow to dark yellow coloured flowers. Following flowering firmly papery to thinly leathery glabrous
seed pod
This page provides a glossary of plant morphology. Botanists and other biologists who study plant morphology use a number of different terms to classify and identify plant organs and parts that can be observed using no more than a handheld magnify ...
s form. The straight or slightly curved pods are more or less flat and straight sided or constricted a little between each of the seeds. the pods are around in length and wide.
Taxonomy
The species was first formally described by the botanists
Mary Tindale
Mary Douglas Tindale (19 September 1920 – 31 March 2011) was an Australian botanist specialising in pteridology (ferns) and the genera ''Acacia'' and ''Glycine''.
Tindale was born in Randwick, New South Wales, the only child of George Harold Ti ...
and C.Herscovich in 1992 as part of the work ''Acacia meiantha (Fabaceae, Mimosoideae), a new species from the Central Tablelands of New South Wales'' as published in the journal ''
Australian Systematic Botany
''Australian Systematic Botany'' is an international peer-reviewed scientific journal published by CSIRO Publishing. It is devoted to publishing original research, and sometimes review articles, on topics related to systematic botany, such as bio ...
''. It was reclassified as ''Racosperma meianthum'' by
Leslie Pedley
Leslie Pedley (19 May 1930 – 27 November 2018)IPNILeslie Pedley/ref> was an Australian botanist who specialised in the genus ''Acacia''. He is notable for bringing into use the generic name ''Racosperma'', creating a split in the genus, which r ...
in 2003 then transferred back to genus ''Acacia'' in 2006.
The latin
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 ...
of ''meiantha'' is derived from the few flowers contained in the flower-heads. The phyllodes resemble those of ''
Acacia linifolia
''Acacia linifolia'', known colloquially as white wattle, or flax wattle, is a species of '' Acacia'' native to eastern Australia.
Description
The shrub typically grows to a height of and has an erect or spreading habit with greyish coloured ...
'' and ''
Acacia boormanii
''Acacia boormanii'', commonly called Snowy River wattle, is a medium, (sometimes) suckering, multi-stemmed, copse-forming shrub, belonging to the genus Acacia.
Its native range is the Snowy River in the alpine country of southeastern Australia. ...
''.
[
]
Distribution
It has a limited range from around Clarence Clarence may refer to:
Places
Australia
* Clarence County, New South Wales, a Cadastral division
* Clarence, New South Wales, a place near Lithgow
* Clarence River (New South Wales)
* Clarence Strait (Northern Territory)
* City of Clarence, a l ...
and Mullions Range in the Great Dividing Range
The Great Dividing Range, also known as the East Australian Cordillera or the Eastern Highlands, is a cordillera system in eastern Australia consisting of an expansive collection of mountain ranges, plateaus and rolling hills, that runs rough ...
in New South Wales
)
, nickname =
, image_map = New South Wales in Australia.svg
, map_caption = Location of New South Wales in AustraliaCoordinates:
, subdivision_type = Country
, subdivision_name = Australia
, established_title = Before federation
, es ...
where it is found among dry sclerophyll forest
Sclerophyll is a type of vegetation that is adapted to long periods of dryness and heat. The plants feature hard leaves, short internodes (the distance between leaves along the stem) and leaf orientation which is parallel or oblique to direct ...
or woodland communities growing in clay or sandy soil.[ The area of its range is estimated to be consisting of severely fragmented populations that are in decline. There are three disjunct populations located on the Central Tablelands situated within of one another.][ ]
See also
* List of ''Acacia'' species
References
{{Taxonbar, from=Q4670964
meiantha
Flora of New South Wales
Plants described in 1992
Taxa named by Mary Tindale