''Acacia spongolitica'' is a 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 ''Plurinerves'' 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 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 spreading, aromatic and resinous shrub typically grows to a height of and a width of . It blooms from July to September and produces yellow flowers. It has resinous,

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 ...

and apically angled branchlets . 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, leathery and evergreen phyllodes have a linear to oblong-elliptic shape with a length of and a width of with one or two main nerves and several parallel and less prominent secondary nerves.

Taxonomy

The species was first formally described by the botanists

Richard Sumner Cowan Richard Sumner Cowan (January 23, 1921 – November 17, 1997) was an American botanist. Early life Richard Sumner Cowan was born on January 23, 1921, in Crawfordsville, Indiana. His family moved to Florida and he was educated in the Tampa, Flor ...

and

Bruce Maslin Bruce Roger Maslin (born 3 May 1946) is an Australian botanist, known for his work on ''Acacia'' taxonomy. Born in Bridgetown, Western Australia, he obtained an honours degree in botany from the University of Western Australia in 1967, then to ...

in 1990 as a part of the work ''Acacia Miscellany. Some oligoneurous species of Acacia (Leguminosae: Mimosoideae: Section Plurinerves) from Western Australia'' as published in the journal ''

Nuytsia ''Nuytsia floribunda'' is a hemiparasitic tree found in Western Australia. The species is known locally as moodjar and, more recently, the Christmas tree or Western Australian Christmas tree. The display of intensely bright flowers during the ...

''. It was reclassified in 2003 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 ...

as ''Racosperma spongoliticum'' then transferred back to genus ''Acacia'' in 2006. It belongs to the '' Acacia flavipila'' group of wattle and is thought to be most closely related to '' Acacia lanei'', '' Acacia ixiophylla'' and ''

Acacia veronica ''Acacia veronica'', commonly known as Veronica's wattle, is a shrub or tree of the genus ''Acacia'' and the subgenus ''Plurinerves'' that is endemic to a small area of south western Australia. Description The shrub or tree typically grows to a ...

'' also closely resembles '' Acacia pelophila''.

Discussion

It is native to an area in the Great Southern and Goldfields-Esperance regions of

Western Australia Western Australia (commonly abbreviated as WA) is a state of Australia occupying the western percent of the land area of Australia excluding external territories. It is bounded by the Indian Ocean to the north and west, the Southern Ocean to th ...

where it is commonly situated in granite river or creek beds and on

spongolite {{unreferenced, date=February 2019 Spongolite is a stone made almost entirely from fossilised sponges. It is light and porous. The silica spicules fossilised with the sponges makes the material hazardous to handle by being highly abrasive. Becau ...

breakaways growing in shallow rocky soils. he range of the plant extend from around Ongerup in the west to near

Ravensthorpe Ravensthorpe may refer to any of the following places. England *Ravensthorpe, Dewsbury in West Yorkshire **Ravensthorpe railway station, Dewsbury *Ravensthorpe, Northamptonshire *Ravensthorpe, Peterborough in Cambridgeshire *Ravensthorpe, an histor ...

in the east and south to the coast around the

Beaufort Inlet Beaufort Inlet also locally known as Pallinup Estuary is an inlet located in the Great Southern region of Western Australia about east of Albany. The inlet functions mostly as a result of wave energy and is a wave dominated estuary. The estu ...

and

Fitzgerald River National Park Fitzgerald River National Park is a national park in the Shires of Ravensthorpe and the Jerramungup in Western Australia, southeast of Perth. The park is recognised on Australia's National Heritage List for its outstanding diversity of native ...

often as a part of low ''

Eucalyptus ''Eucalyptus'' () is a genus of over seven hundred species of flowering trees, shrubs or mallees in the myrtle family, Myrtaceae. Along with several other genera in the tribe Eucalypteae, including '' Corymbia'', they are commonly known as euca ...

'' woodland communities.

References

{{Taxonbar, from=Q15289191 spongolitica Acacias of Western Australia Taxa named by Bruce Maslin Plants described in 1990

Description

Taxonomy

Discussion

See also

References