''Acacia piligera'', commonly known as Hunter gold-dust wattle,
is a tree or 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'' 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 typically grows to a height of and has an obconical open habit. It has erect branches that curve upwards and
glabrous to sparsely hairy branchlets. The grey-green to green
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 are widely spreading and rotated on the branchlets. The phyllodes have a broadly elliptic to broadly obovate shape with a length of and a width .
[ It flowers sporadically through the year and produces ]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 that have spherical flower-heads with a diameter of containing 20 to 32 yellow to deep yellow flowers. After flowering oblong to curved dull dark brown 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 form which are in length and wide.[
]
Taxonomy
The shrub can be mistaken as ''Acacia uncinata
''Acacia uncinata'', commonly known as gold-dust wattle or round-leaved wattle, is a shrub belonging to the genus ''Acacia'' and the subgenus ''Phyllodineae'' that is native to parts of eastern Australia.
Description
The shrub has an open to sp ...
'', it also resembles '' Acacia sertiformis''. 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 thought to be in reference to the downy appearance of the shrub.
Distribution
It 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 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 ...
from around the Hunter Valley
The Hunter Region, also commonly known as the Hunter Valley, is a region of New South Wales, Australia, extending from approximately to north of Sydney. It contains the Hunter River and its tributaries with highland areas to the north and so ...
in the north to the Hunter Range in the south where it is found growing in stony sandy loams derived from sandstone
Sandstone is a clastic sedimentary rock composed mainly of sand-sized (0.0625 to 2 mm) silicate grains. Sandstones comprise about 20–25% of all sedimentary rocks.
Most sandstone is composed of quartz or feldspar (both silicates) ...
soils in woodland communities.
See also
* List of ''Acacia'' species
References
{{Taxonbar, from=Q9568007
piligera
Flora of New South Wales
Plants described in 1835