''Acacia mulganeura'', commonly known as milky mulga and hilltop mulga,
is a tree or 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 ''Juliflorae'' 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 arid parts of central and 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 multi-stemmed shrub typically grows to a height of and has a rounded habit. It later matures into a tree with a height of and has a compact crown. It has ribbed branchlets that are mostly covered in a layer of opaque, milky blue-grey or yellowish coloured resin that changed to beaded white lines as the branchlets mature. The resinous new shoots have reddish coloured hairlets embedded in the resin. 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 to blue grey to dull green variable phyllodes have an elliptic or obovate to oblanceolate shape and are usually somewhat twisted or slightly undulate. The straight phyllodes have a length of and a width of with many longitudinal nerves.
[ 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 long cylindrically shaped flower-spikes. Following flowering firmly chartaceous to thinly coriaceous, dark greyish brown coloured 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 that have and oblong or fusiform shape with a length of and a width of that have long wings. The elliptical seeds inside are arranged longitudinally with a length of and a width of have a small white creamy 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 ...
.[
]
Distribution
It is native to the Mid West
The Midwestern United States, also referred to as the Midwest or the American Midwest, is one of four Census Bureau Region, census regions of the United States Census Bureau (also known as "Region 2"). It occupies the northern central part of ...
, Pilbara
The Pilbara () is a large, dry, thinly populated region in the north of Western Australia. It is known for its Aboriginal peoples; its ancient landscapes; the red earth; and its vast mineral deposits, in particular iron ore. It is also a glo ...
and Goldfields-Esperance regions of Western Australia
Western Australia (commonly abbreviated as WA) is a state of Australia occupying the western percent of the land area of Australia excluding external territories. It is bounded by the Indian Ocean to the north and west, the Southern Ocean to th ...
Northern Territory
The Northern Territory (commonly abbreviated as NT; formally the Northern Territory of Australia) is an states and territories of Australia, Australian territory in the central and central northern regions of Australia. The Northern Territory ...
and northern parts of South Australia
South Australia (commonly abbreviated as SA) is a state in the southern central part of Australia. It covers some of the most arid parts of the country. With a total land area of , it is the fourth-largest of Australia's states and territories ...
where it is often situated on flats or undulating plains and on rocky hills growing in red-brown loamy, silty loamy, sandy loamy or clay-loam soils although it also less frequently found in clay often over hardpan or in skeletal soils as a part of mixed ''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 ...
'' shrubland communities that usually have a cover of '' spinifex''.[
]
See also
* List of ''Acacia'' species
References
{{Taxonbar, from=Q24190237
mulganeura
Acacias of Western Australia
Plants described in 2012
Taxa named by Bruce Maslin
Flora of the Northern Territory
Flora of South Australia