''Acacia splendens'' is a tree or 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 ''Phyllodineae'' that is
endemic to a small area of western
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 or shrub typically grows to a height of
[ and has an open habit. It has thick, glabrous branchlets that are angled at the extremities and 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 phyllodes are found at the end of obvious stem-projections forming narrow wings that are in length and wide and have one nerve per face and finely penninerved.[ It blooms in May and produces yellow flowers.][ The inflorescences are found on a ]raceme
A raceme ( or ) or racemoid is an unbranched, indeterminate type of inflorescence bearing flowers having short floral stalks along the shoots that bear the flowers. The oldest flowers grow close to the base and new flowers are produced as the s ...
that is in length. The spherical to obloid shaped flower-heads contain 33 to 75 golden coloured flowers. Following flowering glabrous, firmly chartaceous, narrowly oblong seed pods form that are up to in length and wide and are covered in a fine white powdery coating. The shiny black seeds inside the pods have an oblong to elliptic shape with a length of with a dark red-brown club shaped 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 Bruce Maslin and Carole Elliott in 2006 as a part of the work ''Acacia splendens (Leguminosae : Mimosoideae), a new rare species from near Dandaragan, Western Australia'' as published in the journal '' Nuytsia''.
Distribution
It is native to a small area in the Wheatbelt region of Western Australialaterite
Laterite is both a soil and a rock type rich in iron and aluminium and is commonly considered to have formed in hot and wet tropical areas. Nearly all laterites are of rusty-red coloration, because of high iron oxide content. They develop by ...
breakaways as a part of low '' Eucalyptus'' woodland communities.
See also
* List of ''Acacia'' species
References
{{Taxonbar, from=Q9569404
splendens
Acacias of Western Australia
Taxa named by Bruce Maslin
Plants described in 2006