''Acacia sparsiflora'', also known as currawong or currawang, is a tree 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 ''Juliflorae'' that is native to a large area in 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 tree typically grows to a maximum height of . It has brown to grey and sometimes reddish coloured bark that has a rough texture and is hard and corrugated or fissured. The glabrous branchlets are angled at the extremities. 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 grey-green glabrous phyllodes are sickle shaped and narrowed at both ends. They are thinly coriaceous and have a length of and a width of with many fine and close non-anastomosing nerves with one to three that are more prominent. It flowers between May and August producing inflorescences that occur in pairs with cylindrical flower-spikes that have a length of containing bright lemon coloured yellow. The seed pods that form after flowering are brown with yellow margins and are shallowly constricted between the seeds. The thinly coriaceous and glabrous pods have a length of up to and a width of around to 9 cm long. the seeds inside are arranged longitudinally. The shiny blackish to dark-brown seeds have an oblong shape and are in length with an

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 ...

that is folded below the seed.

Distribution

It is endemic to parts of Queensland and New South Wales and is fairly widespread throughout the Darling Downs region. The northern end of its range is to about to the south of Charters Towers it is found as far as Adavale to the west and down to around

Yetman Yetman is a hamlet in the New England region of northern New South Wales, Australia. At the , Yetman and the surrounding area had a population of 178. It is located on the Macintyre River about south of the Queensland border and north of Sy ...

in the south. The tree will often forms dense stands and is sometimes associated with '' Acacia shirleyi'' and also as a part of open forests and '' Eucalyptus'' woodlands growing in shallow stony soils usually over a bed of weathered sandstone.

References

{{Taxonbar, from=Q15289144 sparsiflora Flora of Queensland Flora of New South Wales Taxa named by Joseph Maiden Plants described in 1920

Description

Distribution

See also

References