''Acacia pelophila'' is a shrub of 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 ''Plurinerves'' 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 a small area along the west coast of western Australia.

Description

The dense spreading shrub typically grows to a height of and has a rounded to spreading habit. It has resinous new growth and angled,

glabrous Glabrousness (from the Latin ''glaber'' meaning "bald", "hairless", "shaved", "smooth") is the technical term for a lack of hair, down, setae, trichomes or other such covering. A glabrous surface may be a natural characteristic of all or part of ...

and cylindrical branchlets. 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 evergreen, glabrous and leathery phyllodes are ascending to erect and have a linear-oblanceolate shape and are straight to slightly incurved. The phyllodes have a length of and a width of and have six to ten impressed and distant nerves on each face. It blooms from July to September and produces yellow flowers. 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 occur in pairs located in the

axil A leaf ( : leaves) is any of the principal appendages of a vascular plant stem, usually borne laterally aboveground and specialized for photosynthesis. Leaves are collectively called foliage, as in "autumn foliage", while the leaves, st ...

s and have spherical to obloid shaped flower-heads with a length of and a diameter of about containing 33 to 45 golden coloured flowers. The firmly chartaceous to thinly leathery

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 that form after flowering have a linear to string of bead shape and are straight to shallowly curved. The hairy and resinous pods have a length of up to about and a width of around . The black semi-glossy seeds inside have an oblong-elliptic shape and a length of about with an apical

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 botanists

Richard Sumner Cowan Richard Sumner Cowan (January 23, 1921 – November 17, 1997) was an American botanist. Early life Richard Sumner Cowan was born on January 23, 1921, in Crawfordsville, Indiana. His family moved to Florida and he was educated in the Tampa, Flor ...

and

Bruce Maslin Bruce Roger Maslin (born 3 May 1946) is an Australian botanist, known for his work on ''Acacia'' taxonomy. Born in Bridgetown, Western Australia, he obtained an honours degree in botany from the University of Western Australia in 1967, then to ...

as a part of the work ''Acacia miscellany. Miscellaneous new taxa and lectotypifications in Western Australian Acacia, mostly section Plurinerves (Leguminosae: Mimosoideae)'' as published in the journal ''

Nuytsia ''Nuytsia floribunda'' is a hemiparasitic tree found in Western Australia. The species is known locally as moodjar and, more recently, the Christmas tree or Western Australian Christmas tree. The display of intensely bright flowers during the ...

''. It was reclassified by

Leslie Pedley Leslie Pedley (19 May 1930 – 27 November 2018)IPNILeslie Pedley/ref> was an Australian botanist who specialised in the genus ''Acacia''. He is notable for bringing into use the generic name ''Racosperma'', creating a split in the genus, which r ...

in 2003 as ''Racosperma pelophilum'' then transferred back to genus ''Acacia'' in 2006. It is quite closely related to ''

Acacia sclerophylla ''Acacia sclerophylla'', commonly known as the hard-leaf wattle, is a shrub of the genus ''Acacia'' and the subgenus ''Plurinerves'' and is endemic to southern parts of Australia. Description The shrub typically grows to a height of and a width ...

'' and less closely to ''

Acacia spongolitica ''Acacia spongolitica'' is a shrub of the genus ''Acacia'' and the subgenus ''Plurinerves'' that is endemic to south western Australia. Description The spreading, aromatic and resinous shrub typically grows to a height of and a width of . It bl ...

'' and superficially resembles '' Acacia lanei''.

Distribution

It is native to a small area in 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 ...

region 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 ...

where it is often situated along

saline Saline may refer to: * Saline (medicine), a liquid with salt content to match the human body * Saline water, non-medicinal salt water * Saline, a historical term (especially US) for a salt works or saltern Places * Saline, Calvados, a commune in ...

creeklines. It has a limited range to the north west of

Northampton Northampton () is a market town and civil parish in the East Midlands of England, on the River Nene, north-west of London and south-east of Birmingham. The county town of Northamptonshire, Northampton is one of the largest towns in England; ...

growing in clay soils as a part of in mixed shrubland communities.

References

{{Taxonbar, from=Q9567847

pelophila ''Pelophila'' is a genus of beetles in the ground beetle Ground beetles are a large, cosmopolitan distribution, cosmopolitan family (biology), family of beetles, the Carabidae, with more than 40,000 species worldwide, around 2,000 of which are ...

Acacias of Western Australia Taxa named by Bruce Maslin Plants described in 1999 Taxa named by Richard Sumner Cowan

Description

Taxonomy

Distribution

See also

References