''Acacia melvillei'', commonly known as yarran, is a shrub of 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 ''Plurinerves'' 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 south 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 ...

Description

The tree can grow to a maximum height of around and has

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 evergreen, leathery and ascending phyllodes have a narrowly elliptic or oblong-elliptic shape and are quite straight with a length of and a width of and have many closely parallel, obscure nerves where one to three are more prominent than the others. It blooms between August and November producing

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 that occur in groups of three to five found on an axillary axis with a length of and has spherical flower-heads with a diameter of containing 30 to 50 densely packed bright yellow flowers. The straight, flat and papery

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 that form after flowering have more or less straight sides but are constricted between some seeds. The pods are up to in length and wide and sparsely haired.

Taxonomy

The species was first formally described by the botanist

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 1978 as a part of the work ''A revision of Acacia Mill. in Queensland, Part 1'' as published in the journal ''

Austrobaileya ''Austrobaileya'' is the sole genus consisting of a single species that constitutes the entire flowering plant family Austrobaileyaceae. The species ''Austrobaileya scandens'' grows naturally only in the Wet Tropics rainforests of northeast ...

''. Pedley reclassified it as ''Racosperma melvillei'' in 1987 but it returned to the ''Acacia'' genus in 2001. The

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 ...

honours Ronald Melville who was once a

botanist Botany, also called , plant biology or phytology, is the science of plant life and a branch of biology. A botanist, plant scientist or phytologist is a scientist who specialises in this field. The term "botany" comes from the Ancient Greek wo ...

Kew Royal Botanic Gardens Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew is a non-departmental public body in the United Kingdom sponsored by the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs. An internationally important botanical research and education institution, it employs 1,100 ...

. The tree is similar in appearance to ''

Acacia homalophylla ''Acacia homalophylla'' is a small tree found in the eastern half of Australia, where it is known as the yarran. It has also been introduced into India and Pakistan. Description ''Acacia homalophylla'' has a clean trunk and leafy head, a da ...

'' and is thought to form

hybrid Hybrid may refer to: Science * Hybrid (biology), an offspring resulting from cross-breeding ** Hybrid grape, grape varieties produced by cross-breeding two ''Vitis'' species ** Hybridity, the property of a hybrid plant which is a union of two dif ...

s with '' Acacia loderi''.

Distribution

The range of the plant extends from around Clermont in south eastern

Queensland ) , nickname = Sunshine State , image_map = Queensland in Australia.svg , map_caption = Location of Queensland in Australia , subdivision_type = Country , subdivision_name = Australia , established_title = Before federation , established_ ...

in the north down to around

Stanthorpe Stanthorpe is a rural town and locality in the Southern Downs Region, Queensland, Australia. In the , Stanthorpe had a population of 5,406 people. The area surrounding the town is known as the Granite Belt. Geography Stanthorpe lies on the New ...

in the south east and throughout central

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 ...

into the northern parts of

Victoria Victoria most commonly refers to: * Victoria (Australia), a state of the Commonwealth of Australia * Victoria, British Columbia, provincial capital of British Columbia, Canada * Victoria (mythology), Roman goddess of Victory * Victoria, Seychelle ...

as far south as

Mildura Mildura is a regional city in north-west Victoria, Australia. Located on the Victorian side of the Murray River, Mildura had a population of 34,565 in 2021. When nearby Wentworth, Irymple, Nichols Point and Merbein are included, the area had ...

and

Kerang Kerang is a rural town on the Loddon River in northern Victoria in Australia. It is the commercial centre to an irrigation district based on livestock, horticulture, lucerne and grain. It is located north-west of Melbourne on the Murray V ...

as a part of mixed open woodland communities growing in loam, clay and sandy soils. It dominates the endangered ''Acacia melvillei'' shrubland in the

Riverina The Riverina is an agricultural region of south-western New South Wales, Australia. The Riverina is distinguished from other Australian regions by the combination of flat plains, warm to hot climate and an ample supply of water for irrigation ...

and Murray-Darling Depression bioregions in New South Wales where it occurs in pure stands or along with less abundant tall shrubs or trees including '' Acacia loderi'', '' Alectryon oleifolius'', ''

Casuarina pauper ''Casuarina pauper'' is a tree from the family Casuarinaceae, native to a band across the drier, inland areas of southern Australia (). ''C. pauper'' is known as a poorer, stunted form of the closely related '' Casuarina cristata'' (). Common na ...

'' and ''

Myoporum platycarpum ''Myoporum platycarpum'', known by several common names including sugarwood, false sandalwood and ngural is a plant in the figwort family, Scrophulariaceae. It is rounded with bright green foliage as a young shrub and roughly fissured, dark gr ...

''. The open canopy is followed by a scattered layer of mid-stratum shrubs then by a highly variable but sometimes sparse ground layer of grasses.

References

{{Taxonbar, from=Q15287771 melvillei Flora of Queensland Flora of New South Wales Flora of Victoria (state) Taxa named by Leslie Pedley Plants described in 1978

Description

Taxonomy

Distribution

See also

References