''Acacia phasmoides'', the phantom wattle,
[ is a shrub species 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 south-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
It grows to between 1 and 4 metres high and 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 that are 5 to 12.5 cm long and 1 to 2 mm wide. The bright yellow globular flowerheads appear singly or in groups of two in the axils of the phyllodes from September to November, followed by curved seed pods which are 5 to 9 cm long and 2 to 4 mm wide.
Taxonomy
The species was formally described in 1967 by botanist Jim Willis based on plant material collected from Pine Mountain in north-eastern Victoria.[ It was reclassified as ''Racosperma phasmoides'' 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 and then transferred back to genus ''Acacia'' in 2006.
Distribution
Its distribution is limited to a small area on the border between south-eastern 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 ...
and north-eastern Victoria.Woomargama National Park
Woomargama National Park is a national park situated south east of Holbrook and north east of Albury, in the South West Slopes region of southern New South Wales. Southern extremities of the park are within one kilometre of Lake Hume which is f ...
and has an estimated population of 2000 plants. In Victoria it is found in the Burrowa-Pine Mountain National Park from two stands east of the summit of Pine Mountain with nine plants in one stand and between 150 and 250 in the other. The Victorian populations are located approximately from the New South Wales populations.[
]
See also
* List of ''Acacia'' species
References
{{Taxonbar, from=Q4670986
phasmoides
Flora of New South Wales
Flora of Victoria (state)
Fabales of Australia