''Acacia microcarpa'', commonly known as manna wattle, 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''
endemic 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
glabrous shrub typically grows to a height of and has angled branchlets with insignificant
stipules.
The grey coloured bark on the trunk and main branches is finely fissured.
The evergreen
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 usually have an oblanceolate to oblong-oblanceolate or elliptic-oblanceolate shape and are straight to slightly incurved. The smooth phyllodes are in length and have a width of .
[ The shrub blooms between August and November.][ The simple inflorescences are composed of spherical flower-heads made up of 14 to 22 bright to mid-golden coloured flowers. The linear green or brown seed pods that form after flowering are slightly to prominently curved with a length of around and a width of . The pods contain dark broen seeds that are in length.][
]
Taxonomy
The species was first formally described by the botanist Ferdinand von Mueller
Baron Sir Ferdinand Jacob Heinrich von Mueller, (german: Müller; 30 June 1825 – 10 October 1896) was a German-Australian physician, geographer, and most notably, a botanist. He was appointed government botanist for the then colony of Vict ...
in 1858 as part of the work '' Fragmenta Phytographiae Australiae''. It was reclassified as ''Racosperma microcarpum'' in 2003 by Leslie Pedley then transferred back to genus ''Acacia'' in 2006.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 ...
refers to the small seeds of the plant.[
]
Distribution
The bulk of the population of the shrub is found throughout south eastern Australia from the Eyre Peninsula near Widunna in the west through to Mallee Cliffs National Park in New South Wales to the north east and Gunbower
Gunbower is a town in northern Victoria (Australia), Victoria, Australia. The town is located in the Shire of Campaspe, north of the state capital, Melbourne on the banks of Gunbower Creek. At the , Gunbower had a population of 551.
Gunbower Po ...
in Victoria in the south east where it grows in a variety of soil types and vegetation communities.[ It is often found in sandy to loamy soils in mallee country.][
]
See also
* List of ''Acacia'' species
References
{{Taxonbar, from=Q9566921
microcarpa
Flora of South Australia
Flora of Victoria (state)
Flora of New South Wales
Taxa named by Ferdinand von Mueller
Plants described in 1858