''Acacia tropica'' is a shrub or small tree native to tropical areas northern
Australia.
Description
The tree or tall shrub typically grows to a height of and has sparsely arranged whippy branches. It has smooth red-brown to grey-brown coloured bark that becomes fibrous with age. The evergreen narrowly elliptic or elliptic shaped
phyllodes are straight with a length of and a width of and have between two and four prominent nerves. It blooms between June and August producing flower-spikes with a length of that are densely packed with bright yellow flowers.
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]
Taxonomy
The species was first formally described as ''Acacia cunninghamii'' var. ''tropica'' by Joseph Maiden
Joseph Henry Maiden (25 April 1859 – 16 November 1925) was a botanist who made a major contribution to knowledge of the Australian flora, especially the genus ''Eucalyptus''. This botanist is denoted by the author abbreviation when citing ...
and William Blakely
William Faris Blakely (November 1875 – 1 September 1941) was an Australian botanist and collector. From 1913 to 1940 he worked in the National Herbarium of New South Wales, working with Joseph Maiden on ''Eucalyptus'', Maiden named a ''red ...
in 1927. It was described under the current name by the botanist Mary Tindale in 1972 as part of the work ''Notes on Australian taxa of Acacia'' as published in ''Contributions from the New South Wales National Herbarium''. It was reclassified as ''Racosperma tropicum'' in 1987 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 genus ''Acacia'' in 2001.
Distribution
It is found in the Gulf country of north western Queensland
)
, nickname = Sunshine State
, image_map = Queensland in Australia.svg
, map_caption = Location of Queensland in Australia
, subdivision_type = Country
, subdivision_name = Australia
, established_title = Before federation
, establishe ...
as far east as Croydon
Croydon is a large town in south London, England, south of Charing Cross. Part of the London Borough of Croydon, a local government district of Greater London. It is one of the largest commercial districts in Greater London, with an extensi ...
extending to the west into the top end
The Top End of Australia's Northern Territory is a geographical region encompassing the northernmost section of the Northern Territory, which aside from the Cape York Peninsula is the northernmost part of the Australian continent. It covers a ra ...
of the Northern Territory
The Northern Territory (commonly abbreviated as NT; formally the Northern Territory of Australia) is an Australian territory in the central and central northern regions of Australia. The Northern Territory shares its borders with Western Aust ...
to around Darwin. It is commonly found alongside creeks and rivers and at base of sandstone
Sandstone is a clastic sedimentary rock composed mainly of sand-sized (0.0625 to 2 mm) silicate grains. Sandstones comprise about 20–25% of all sedimentary rocks.
Most sandstone is composed of quartz or feldspar (both silicates ...
hills growing in deep sandy soils in scrubland communities often is association with '' Melaleuca viridiflora''.[
]
See also
* List of ''Acacia'' species
References
{{Taxonbar, from=Q15289290
tropica
Flora of the Northern Territory
Flora of Queensland
Plants described in 1972
Taxa named by Joseph Maiden
Taxa named by William Blakely