''Acacia tetraneura'' is a 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 ''Juliflorae'' 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 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 slow spreading shrub typically grows to a height of and has a flat-topped habit. It has

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 resinous branchlets than can be sparsely haired at the ends. 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 erect, terete or flat blue-green coloured phyllodes have a linear to narrowly oblong shape and are often mostly shallowly incurved. The rigid phyllodes have a length of and a width of and have four broad and prominent flat-topped, broad nerves with a central nerve prominently raised over the others. It blooms from May to July producing yellow flowers. The simple

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 usually occur as pairs in the

axil A leaf ( : leaves) is any of the principal appendages of a vascular plant stem, usually borne laterally aboveground and specialized for photosynthesis. Leaves are collectively called foliage, as in "autumn foliage", while the leaves, st ...

s with spherical to shortly obloid shaped flower-heads that have a diameter of about and contain 13 to 20 light golden coloured flowers. The glabrous, coriaceous-crustaceous

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 that form after flowering have a linear shape but are slightly constricted between each of the seeds. The pods are straight or twisted with a length of up to and a width of with broad margins. The grey-brown mottled seeds have an obloid shape with a length of .

Distribution

It is native to an area in the Wheatbelt region 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 is commonly situated on low ridges and rises growing in clay soils with

lateritic 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 ...

gravel. It is found around the

Bruce Rock Bruce Rock is a town in the eastern Wheatbelt region of Western Australia, approximately east of Perth and southwest of Merredin. It is the main town in the Shire of Bruce Rock. History Originally known as Nunagin or Noonegin, the name of ...

area in areas to the south west of Hyden where it is a part of open heathland communities.

References

{{Taxonbar, from=Q9569865 tetraneura Acacias of Western Australia Plants described in 1999 Taxa named by Bruce Maslin

Description

Distribution

See also

References