''Acacia pachypoda'' 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 spreading and prickly shrub typically grows to a height of
[ that has glabrous branches with light grey coloured bark. The coarsely pungent branchlets are rigid, terete and have no ribbing. 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 pungent, rigid and green phyllodes are mostly patent with a length if and a diameter of about .[ The inflorescences occur in pairs of groups of three on a ]raceme
A raceme ( or ) or racemoid is an unbranched, indeterminate type of inflorescence bearing flowers having short floral stalks along the shoots that bear the flowers. The oldest flowers grow close to the base and new flowers are produced as the s ...
with a length of around . The spherical flower-heads contain around eight loosely packed cream coloured flowers. The seed pods that form after flowering have a linear shape with a length that is up to and a width of . The dark brown coloured and crustaceous pods have longitudinally arranged seeds inside. The dark brown seeds have an oblong shape with a length of with a terminal white 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 ...
.[
]
Taxonomy
The species was first formally described by the botanist Bruce Maslin in 1974 as a part of the work ''Studies in the genus Acacia - Miscellaneous new phyllodinous species'' as published in the journal '' Nuytsia''. It was reclassified as ''Racosperma pachypodum'' in 2003 by Leslie Pedley then transferred back to genus ''Acacia'' in 2006.
''A. pachypoda'' is closely related to ''Acacia castanostegia
''Acacia castanostegia'' 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 ...
'' and similar in appearance to ''Acacia atrox
''Acacia atrox'', commonly known as Myall Creek wattle, is a shrub belonging to the genus ''Acacia'' and the subgenus ''Phyllodineae'' that is endemic to a small area in New South Wales.
Description
The shrub has a dense and multi-branched hab ...
''.[
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 ...
is taken from the Ancient Greek "thick" and "foot".
Distribution
It is native to an area in the eastern Wheatbelt and Goldfields-Esperance regions of Western Australia where it is commonly situated on low rocky hills and undulating plains growing in rocky clay or sandy or stony loam soils.Frank Hann National Park
Frank Hann National Park is a national park in Western Australia, located east-southeast of the capital, Perth in the Shire of Lake Grace. It was named for Frank Hann, an early explorer of the district. The park contains a wide array of flora, ...
in the south and east out to around Fraser Range
The Fraser Range is a small mountain range in southwestern British Columbia, Canada, located north of the western end of Nugent Sound. It has an area of 37 km2 and is a subrange of the Pacific Ranges which in turn form part of the Coast Mou ...
as a part of '' Eucalyptus'' woodland or Mallee scrubland communities.[
]
See also
* List of ''Acacia'' species
References
{{Taxonbar, from=Q15288097
pachypoda
''Pachypoda''Carvalho, China (1951) ''Ann. Mag. Nat. Hist.'', (12) 4. is a genus of central American capsid bugs in the subfamily Bryocorinae and the tribe Eccritotarsini
Eccritotarsini is a tribe of plant bugs in the family Miridae. There ...
Acacias of Western Australia
Taxa named by Bruce Maslin
Plants described in 1974