''Acacia obovata'' 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'' that is endemic to south 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 erect dense shrub typically grows to a height of . It is often has multiple slender stems and has a woody rootstock with hairy branchlets and narrowly triangular stipules with a length of . It has green elliptic to broadly elliptic or obovate shaped

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 with a length of and a width of and prominent midrib and marginal nerves. It blooms from March to September and produces white-cream-yellow flowers. The inflorescences occur singly with spherical flower-heads containing five to nine loosely packed yellow to white coloured flowers that dry to an orange colour. The woody brown seed pods that form after flowering have a linear shape but can be spirally twisted when young. The pods have a length of around and a width of to 11 cm long, 5–6 mm wide, coriaceous-crustaceous to subwoody, glabrous; margins thick and contain glossy dark brown seeds with an oblong to elliptic shape.

Taxonomy

The species was first formally described by the botanist George Bentham in 1842 as a part of

William Jackson Hooker Sir William Jackson Hooker (6 July 178512 August 1865) was an English botanist and botanical illustrator, who became the first director of Kew when in 1841 it was recommended to be placed under state ownership as a botanic garden. At Kew he ...

s' work ''Notes on Mimoseae, with a synopsis of species'' as published in the ''London Journal of Botany''. It was reclassified as ''Racosperma obovatum'' by Leslie Pedley in 2003 then transferred back to genus ''Acacia'' in 2006.

Distribution

It is native to a scattered area along the west coast in the South West,

Peel Peel or Peeling may refer to: Places Australia * Peel (Western Australia) * Peel Island, Queensland *Peel, New South Wales * Peel River (New South Wales) Canada * Peel Parish, New Brunswick * Peel, New Brunswick, an unincorporated communi ...

and Wheatbelt regions of Western Australia where it grows in

lateritic Laterite is both a soil and a rock type rich in iron and aluminium and is commonly considered to have formed in hot and wet tropical areas. Nearly all laterites are of rusty-red coloration, because of high iron oxide content. They develop by ...

soils. It is found as far north as Jurien Bay with a disjunct distribution south through parts of the Darling Range down to around Augusta where it is often a part of '' Eucalyptus marginata'' and '' Corymbia calophylla'' forest communities and less frequently in low open heath lands.

References

{{Taxonbar, from=Q9567490 obovata Acacias of Western Australia Plants described in 1842 Taxa named by George Bentham

Description

Taxonomy

Distribution

See also

References