''Acacia retinodes'' is an

evergreen In botany, an evergreen is a plant which has foliage that remains green and functional through more than one growing season. This also pertains to plants that retain their foliage only in warm climates, and contrasts with deciduous plants, which ...

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 ...

that is

native Native may refer to: People * Jus soli, citizenship by right of birth * Indigenous peoples, peoples with a set of specific rights based on their historical ties to a particular territory ** Native Americans (disambiguation) In arts and entert ...

to South Australia, Victoria and Tasmania. Short

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 ...

s of yellow flowers are produced periodically throughout the year. Internet Archive"> Internet Archive
''Select Extra-tropical Plants Readily Eligible for Industrial Culture Or Naturalization'' By Ferdinand von Mueller Some common names are Retinodes water wattle, swamp wattle, wirilda, ever-blooming wattle and silver wattle.

Description

The tree typically grows to a height of and is able to form suckers. It has furrowed bark with a rough texture that is dark brown to black in colour. 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 ...

branchlets that are sometimes pendulous or angular or flattened at 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 green to grey-green, glabrous and variable phyllodes are quite crowded on stems and have a narrowly oblanceolate to oblanceolate to linear shape. The phyllodes are in length and wide with one main nerve per face. It mostly blooms in summer between December and February.

Taxonomy

The species was first formally described by the botanist

Diederich Franz Leonhard von Schlechtendal Diederich Franz Leonhard von Schlechtendal (27 November 1794, Xanten – 12 October 1866, Halle) was a German botanist. He studied in Berlin, in 1819 becoming curator of the Royal Herbarium. He was a professor of botany and director of the Bo ...

in 1847 as part of the work ''Sudaustralische Pflanzen. II. Bestimmung und Beschreibung der von Dr Behr in Sudaustralien gesammelten Pflanzen'' as published in the journal ''Linnaea: ein Journal für die Botanik in ihrem ganzen Umfange, oder Beiträge zur Pflanzenkunde''. It was reclassified as ''Racosperma retinodes'' 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 ...

in 2003 then transferred back to genus ''Acacia'' in 2007.

Varieties

*''A. retinodes'' var. ''retinodes'' *''A. retinodes'' var. ''uncifolia''

Distribution

In South Australia it is native to the

Mount Lofty Ranges The Mount Lofty Ranges are a range of mountains in the Australian state of South Australia which for a small part of its length borders the east of Adelaide. The part of the range in the vicinity of Adelaide is called the Adelaide Hills and ...

from around Mount Clare to Mount Bryan extending down the

Fleurieu Peninsula The Fleurieu Peninsula () is a peninsula in the Australian state of South Australia located south of the state capital of Adelaide. History Before British colonisation of South Australia, the western side of the peninsula was occupied by the K ...

to around Delamere and Normanville in the south and is regarded as a weed further to the south east. It is commonly situated on low ranges and hills as a part of ''

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.

Uses

It is used for environmental management and for ornamental purposes. It produces good quantities of gum and its bark is good for

tanning Tanning may refer to: *Tanning (leather), treating animal skins to produce leather *Sun tanning, using the sun to darken pale skin **Indoor tanning, the use of artificial light in place of the sun **Sunless tanning, application of a stain or dye t ...

. It has gained the

Royal Horticultural Society The Royal Horticultural Society (RHS), founded in 1804 as the Horticultural Society of London, is the UK's leading gardening charity. The RHS promotes horticulture through its five gardens at Wisley (Surrey), Hyde Hall (Essex), Harlow Carr (Nort ...

Award of Garden Merit The Award of Garden Merit (AGM) is a long-established annual award for plants by the British Royal Horticultural Society (RHS). It is based on assessment of the plants' performance under UK growing conditions. History The Award of Garden Merit ...

. In temperate regions it requires a frost-free sheltered spot with full sun.

Indigenous Australian Indigenous Australians or Australian First Nations are people with familial heritage from, and membership in, the ethnic groups that lived in Australia before British colonisation. They consist of two distinct groups: the Aboriginal peoples ...

s ate the gum, after softening it in water, to relieve chest pains. The plant is grown as a house plant in temperature climates, where it is resistant to most diseases and pests. It can be grown in almost any well-drained potting soil, but requires ample light and water from spring to summer. Watering should be reduced in the fall and winter. Repotting is generally necessary at the start of each growth season. The plant is usually propagated from seed, but can be propagated from cuttings, though these may take several months to root.

References

External links

''Acacia retinodes'' Photos (Google Images)
Acaciaretinodes1web.jpg, habit Starr 031114-0009 Acacia retinodes.jpg, flowers and seed pod {{Taxonbar, from=Q2666767 retinodes Fabales of Australia Flora of Tasmania Flora of Victoria (Australia) Trees of Australia Flora of South Australia Plants described in 1847 Taxa named by Diederich Franz Leonhard von Schlechtendal