''Acacia nematophylla'', commonly known as coast wallowa,
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'' where it is
endemic to southern
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 shrub typically grows to a height of around and has a bushy habit. It has
glabrous branchlets that are angled at the extremities. The ascending to erect, grey-green
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 are flat with a narrowly linear shape and are straight or slightly curved. The phyllodes are around in length and have a width of .
[ The shrub flowers almost year-round with the exception of June with a peak between November and February.][ It has simple inflorescences simple that occur singly in the axils with spherical flower-heads containing 28 to 41 yellow flowers. The sub-woody linear brown seed pods that form after flowering have a length of and a width of . The pods contain oblong to elliptic shaped slightly shiny, dark brown to black coloured seeds that are in length.][
]
Taxonomy
The species was first formally described by the botanist George Bentham in 1855 as part of the work ''Plantae Muellerianae: Mimoseae'' a spublished in ''Linnaea: ein Journal für die Botanik in ihrem ganzen Umfange, oder Beiträge zur Pflanzenkunde''. It was reclassified as ''Racosperma nematophyllum'' by Leslie Pedley in 2003 then transferred back 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 ...
is taken from the Greek word ''nemato'' meaning ''thread-like'' and ''phyllon'' meaning ''leaf'' in reference to the shape of the phyllodes.[
]
Distribution
It is native to areas on the Eyre Peninsula, southern Yorke Peninsula and Fleurieu Peninsula of South Australia where it is found among sand dunes growing in sandy soils.
See also
* List of ''Acacia'' species
References
{{Taxonbar, from=Q15287975
nematophylla
Flora of South Australia
Plants described in 1855
Taxa named by George Bentham