Common name: Matthew's Wattle
Acacia matthewii Tindale & S.J.Davies APNI* Synonyms: Racosperma matthewii (Tindale & S.J.Davies) Pedley APNI*
Description: Shrub or tree to 15 m high; bark flaky to fibrous, reddish brown to grey; branchlets markedly angled, triquetrous or flattened, ± scurfy.
Phyllodes dimorphic, narrowly elliptic, mostly falcate to subfalcate, 6–19 cm long, 9–35 mm wide, bright green, glabrous, longitudinal veins numerous, closely spaced, non-anastomosing, 3–5 more prominent, (3-) 4–6 (-7) veins per mm, apex acute to acuminate with a mucro; basal gland to 2.5 mm above the pulvinus; pulvinus 2–7 mm long; phyllodes on new growth shorter and broader, elliptic or obovate, ± straight and often hairy.
Inflorescences 1–3 on an axillary axis 5–25 mm long; peduncles 1–6 mm long, glabrous or sparsely hairy, scurfy; heads cylindrical, 2–6 cm long, bright yellow.
Pods straight or sometimes curved or twisted, ± flat but often slightly raised over seeds, straight-sided to slightly constricted between seeds, mostly 2–10 cm long, 2.5–4 mm wide, firmly papery to thinly leathery, finely longitudinally wrinkled, glabrous, often somewhat scurfy; seeds longitudinal; funicle folded 2–6 times and expanded into a small aril.
Flowering: August–November.
Distribution and occurrence: east of Rylstone, Kandos and Capertee to Dharug National Park; rare. Grows on margins of wet sclerophyll forest, dry sclerophyll woodland and in pure stands, on sandstone and shale, often on ridges or steep rocky hillsides.
NSW subdivisions: NC, CC, CT
Named after Pattrick Matthew, a naturalist of the central coast of New South Wales. Similar to Acacia cheelii and A. blakei but differs in the detail of the flower and phyllodes.
Text by P.G. Kodela (last updated May 2012)
Taxon concept: P.G. Kodela & G.J. Harden, Flora of NSW Vol. 2 (2002)
APNI* Provides a link to the Australian Plant Name Index (hosted by the Australian National Botanic Gardens) for comprehensive bibliographic data
***The AVH map option provides a detailed interactive Australia wide distribution map drawn from collections held by all major Australian herbaria participating in the Australian Virtual Herbarium project.
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