''Acacia truncata'', commonly known as the angle leaved wattle or west coast wattle, is a coastal

shrub A shrub (often also called a bush) is a small-to-medium-sized perennial woody plant. Unlike herbaceous plants, shrubs have persistent woody stems above the ground. Shrubs can be either deciduous or evergreen. They are distinguished from trees ...

in the

family Family (from la, familia) is a Social group, group of people related either by consanguinity (by recognized birth) or Affinity (law), affinity (by marriage or other relationship). The purpose of the family is to maintain the well-being of its ...

Fabaceae The Fabaceae or Leguminosae,International Code of Nomenc ...

, with a native distribution along the southwest coast 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 ...

. A specimen of this wattle was part of an early European botanical collection, perhaps the first from Australia.

Description

The shrub is a dense and dome shaped plant high. It has ribbed and

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 ...

branchlets. Flowerheads are globe-shaped and composed of 7-16 pale yellow flowers, on stalks between long. Following flowering it will form blackish curved to linear

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 are about in length and wide with thick yellowish margins. The shiny brown seeds are longitudinally arranged in the pod. They have an oblong to elliptic shape and are long. Like many other ''

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 ...

'' species, ''A. truncata'' 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 triangular phyllodes range from long and wide.

Taxonomy

The species was initially described as ''Adiantum truncatum'' by

Nicolaas Laurens Burman Nicolaas Laurens Burman (27 December 1734 – 11 September 1793) was a Dutch botanist. He was the son of Johannes Burman (1707–1780). He succeeded his father to the chair of botany at the Athenaeum Illustre of Amsterdam., and at the Hortus Bot ...

in 1768 in the work ''Flora Indica: cu accedit series zoophytorum indicorum, nec non Prodromus Florae Capensis''. It was first formally described as ''Acacia truncata'' by the botanist

Johann Centurius Hoffmannsegg Johann Centurius Hoffmann Graf von Hoffmannsegg (23 August 1766 – 13 December 1849) was a German botanist, entomologist and ornithologist. Hoffmannsegg was born at Rammenau and studied at Leipzig and Göttingen. He travelled through Europe a ...

in 1824 as part of the work ''Verzeichniss der Pflanzenkulturen in der Gräflich Hoffmannseggischen Garten zu Dresden und Rammenau''. The name ''Acacia decipiens'' R.Br.is regarded as a synonym for this taxon. In 2003 it was reclassified as ''Racosperma truncatum'' 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 ...

, then transferred back to the genus ''Acacia'' in 2016. The species is closely related to and similar in appearance to '' Acacia littorea''. The species name is taken from the

Latin Latin (, or , ) is a classical language belonging to the Italic branch of the Indo-European languages. Latin was originally a dialect spoken in the lower Tiber area (then known as Latium) around present-day Rome, but through the power of the ...

word meaning ''to cut off'', referring to the short blunt end of the phyllodes.

Distribution

''A. truncata'' is found along the west coast of Western Australia extending from the

Mid West The Midwestern United States, also referred to as the Midwest or the American Midwest, is one of four Census Bureau Region, census regions of the United States Census Bureau (also known as "Region 2"). It occupies the northern central part of ...

through the Wheatbelt and Peel and into the

South West The points of the compass are a set of horizontal, radially arrayed compass directions (or azimuths) used in navigation and cartography. A compass rose is primarily composed of four cardinal directions—north, east, south, and west—each sepa ...

. It is found as far north as Carnamah and as far south as

Harvey Harvey, Harveys or Harvey's may refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media * ''Harvey'' (play), a 1944 play by Mary Chase about a man befriended by an invisible anthropomorphic rabbit * Harvey Awards ("Harveys"), one of the most important awards ...

. It grows in sandy and skeletal soils and is found among sand dunes and patches of coastal

limestone Limestone ( calcium carbonate ) is a type of carbonate sedimentary rock which is the main source of the material lime. It is composed mostly of the minerals calcite and aragonite, which are different crystal forms of . Limestone forms whe ...

as part of coastal heath communities.

Cultivation and Uses

The plant commercially available as seedlings in seed form. It is easily propagated from seed collected in December or January. The seeds need to be treated with hot water treatment or lightly scarified prior to planting. It grows best in a free-draining seed-raising soil mix. The species is used for restoration work, particularly in coastal areas, in mixed plantings with other low shrubby species such as ''

Olearia axillaris ''Olearia axillaris'', commonly known as coastal daisy-bush, coast daisy-bush or coastal daisybush is a species of flowering plant in the family Asteraceae and is endemic to coastal areas of Australia. It is an erect, bushy shrub with densely c ...

'', '' Lomandra maritima'' and ''

Scaevola crassifolia ''Scaevola crassifolia'' is a shrub in the family Goodeniaceae, native to Western Australia and South Australia. Common names include cushion fanflower, thick-leaved fanflower and thick-leaved scaevola. It grows up to 1.5 metres high and 3 metre ...

''. ''A. truncata'' requires some protection from strong winds. It is tolerant of

frost Frost is a thin layer of ice on a solid surface, which forms from water vapor in an above-freezing atmosphere coming in contact with a solid surface whose temperature is below freezing, and resulting in a phase change from water vapor (a gas) ...

and salt water spray making it ideal for coastal gardens.

References

* {{Taxonbar, from=Q280581 truncata Acacias of Western Australia Fabales of Australia Plants described in 1824 Taxa named by Nicolaas Laurens Burman

Description

Taxonomy

Distribution

Cultivation and Uses

See also

References