''Acacia penninervis'', commonly known as mountain hickory wattle, or blackwood, is a perennial shrub or tree is an ''Acacia'' belonging to subgenus ''Phyllodineae'',PlantNet
/ref> that is native to eastern

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 or tree typically grows to a height of and has an erect to spreading habit. It has finely or deeply fissured bark that is usually a dark grey colour. The

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 ...

branchlets are more or less terete and occasionally covered in a fine white powdery coating. 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 glabrous and evergreen phyllodes have a narrowly oblanceolate or narrowly elliptic shape and are straight to slightly curved with a length of and a width of with a prominent midvein and marginal veins and are finely penniveined. The plant blooms throughout the year producing pale yellow flowers.

Taxonomy

The species was first formally described by the botanist

Augustin Pyramus de Candolle Augustin Pyramus (or Pyrame) de Candolle (, , ; 4 February 17789 September 1841) was a Swiss botanist. René Louiche Desfontaines launched de Candolle's botanical career by recommending him at a herbarium. Within a couple of years de Candol ...

in 1825 as part of the work ''Leguminosae. Prodromus Systematis Naturalis Regni Vegetabilis''. It was reclassified as ''Racosperma penninerve'' 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 1986 then transferred back to genus ''Acacia'' in 2006. Other synonyms include; ''Acacia impressa'', ''Acacia penninervis'' var. ''impressa'' and ''Acacia impressa'' var. ''impressa''.

Varieties

* ''Acacia penninervis'' var. ''longiracemosa'' * ''Acacia penninervis'' var. ''penninervis''

Distribution

It occurs in the Australian states of the

Australian Capital Territory The Australian Capital Territory (commonly abbreviated as ACT), known as the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) until 1938, is a landlocked federal territory of Australia containing the national capital Canberra and some surrounding townships. ...

New South Wales ) , nickname = , image_map = New South Wales in Australia.svg , map_caption = Location of New South Wales in AustraliaCoordinates: , subdivision_type = Country , subdivision_name = Australia , established_title = Before federation , es ...

Queensland ) , nickname = Sunshine State , image_map = Queensland in Australia.svg , map_caption = Location of Queensland in Australia , subdivision_type = Country , subdivision_name = Australia , established_title = Before federation , established_ ...

and

Victoria Victoria most commonly refers to: * Victoria (Australia), a state of the Commonwealth of Australia * Victoria, British Columbia, provincial capital of British Columbia, Canada * Victoria (mythology), Roman goddess of Victory * Victoria, Seychelle ...

, and as an introduced species on New Zealand's North Island and South Island. The variety ''A. p.'' var. ''penninervis'' occurs in the same Australian states of the Australian Capital Territory, New South Wales, Queensland, and Victoria. The variety ''A. p.'' var. ''longiracemosa'' occurs in coastal districts of southern Queensland, and northern New South Wales.

Uses

The 1889 book 'The Useful Native Plants of Australia’ records that common names included "Hickory" and "Blackwood" and that "The bark (and, according to some, the leaves) of this tree was formerly used by the aboriginals ic.of southern New South Wales for catching fish. They would throw them into a waterhole when the fish would rise to the top and be easily caught. Neither the leaves nor bark contain strictly poisonous substances, but, like the other species of Acacia, they would be deleterious, owing to their astringency." Its uses include environmental management. The

tannin Tannins (or tannoids) are a class of astringent, polyphenolic biomolecules that bind to and precipitate proteins and various other organic compounds including amino acids and alkaloids. The term ''tannin'' (from Anglo-Norman ''tanner'', ...

content of the bark is approximately 18%.

References