Common name: Early Wattle, Spreading Wattle
Acacia genistifolia Link APNI* Synonyms: Acacia diffusa Ker Gawl. APNI* Acacia cuspidata A.Cunn. ex Benth. APNI*
Description: Erect or spreading shrub 1–3 m high; branchlets angled at extremities, ridged, glabrous.
Phyllodes sessile, ± rigid, straight to slightly curved, terete or 4-angled, 1.5–4 cm long, 1–3 mm wide or rarely to 6 mm, glabrous, midvein prominent or veined at each angle, apex pungent-pointed; 1 gland near base.
Inflorescences simple, 1 or 2 in axil of phyllodes; peduncles 5–20 mm long, glabrous; heads globose, 12–30-flowered, 4–7.5 mm diam., pale yellow to ± white.
Pods straight to strongly curved, raised over and variably constricted between seeds, 3–11 cm long, 4–6 mm wide, thinly leathery, smooth to slightly wrinkled, mostly glabrous, often with appressed minute hairs near base and apex; seeds longitudinal; funicle expanded towards seed.
Flowering: Flowers usually July–October.
Distribution and occurrence: Grows in dry sclerophyll forest, in gravelly and shaley soils; west to Grenfell and Griffith, south from Bathurst area; also recorded in the `Warragamba Catchment' (CC).
NSW subdivisions: ?CC, SC, CT, ST, CWS, SWS, SWP
Other Australian states: Vic. Tas.
The name refers to its likeness to some species of broom (genus Genista).
Text by P.G. Kodela Taxon concept: P.G. Kodela & G.J. Harden, Flora of NSW Vol. 2 (2002)
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