Common name: horse mulga
Acacia ramulosa var. ramulosa W.Fitzg. APNI* Synonyms: Racosperma ramulosum (W.Fitzg.) Pedley var. ramulosum APNI*
Description: Erect or spreading shrub or tree 1–6 m high; bark finely fissured, dark grey; branchlets ± terete, ± appressed-hairy.
Phyllodes ± rigid, linear, straight or slightly curved, 8–20 cm long, 1–3 mm wide, subglaucous or glaucous, appressed-hairy, longitudinal veins numerous, closely-spaced, obscure, apex acute with a mucro; glands absent or 1 inconspicuous gland at base; pulvinus < 2 mm long.
Inflorescences 1 or 2 in axil of phyllodes; peduncles usually 3–10 mm long, hairy; heads cylindrical, 1–2 cm long, bright yellow.
Pods ± straight, terete, straight-sided to barely constricted between seeds, 2–16 cm long, 4–8 mm wide, silvery to greyish appressed-hairy between yellowish to brownish, resinous, sparsely anastomosing longitudinal veins (appearing ± striate); seeds longitudinal; funicle filiform or expanded towards seed.
Flowering: irregularly throughout the year depending upon weather conditions.
Distribution and occurrence: north and west from Coonabarabran district. Grows in Mulga and woodland communities, on ridges and along drainage lines, including red sandy undulating country.
NSW subdivisions: NWP, NFWP
Other Australian states: Qld W.A. S.A. N.T.
The name refers to the much branched habit of the species. Related to Acacia brachystachya and A. aneura, both of which differ mainly in the details of the pods.
Text by P.G. Kodela (August 2005) Taxon concept: P.G. Kodela & G.J. Harden, Flora of NSW Vol. 2 (2002)
The single variety in NSW. |
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