Common name: wallowa, reed-leaf wattle
Acacia calamifolia Sweet ex Lindl. APNI* Synonyms: Racosperma calamifolium (Sweet ex Lindl.) Pedley APNI*
Description: Erect or spreading shrub mostly 1.5–4 m high; branchlets ± terete, glabrous.
Phyllodes terete or flat, 3–10 cm long, 1–1.5 mm wide, glabrous, longitudinal veins 4 in all, not prominent, longitudinally wrinkled when dry, apex acuminate, hooked with a mucro; 1 small gland 5–10 mm above base; pulvinus < 2 mm long.
Inflorescences 1–4 in axil of phyllodes or up to 7 on an axillary axis 5–30 mm long; peduncles (3-) 4–10 (-15) mm long, glabrous; heads globose, usually 30–40-flowered, 3.5–5 mm diam., bright yellow.
Pods straight, curved or twisted, moniliform, 6–15 cm long, 3–6 mm wide, leathery to firm and brittle, glabrous, ± pruinose; seeds oblique; funicle filiform, half to wholly encircling seed, dark reddish when fresh, arilate.
Flowering: October–November.
Distribution and occurrence: chiefly from Nymagee to Griffith, most common in SWP, also reported from the Broken Hill district (NFWP). Grows in sclerophyll woodland and forest (with eucalypts and Callitris), also grassland and shrublands, in skeletal sandy soils on hills and in red sandy loam soils on plains, also in mallee in sandy soils.
NSW subdivisions: NWS, CWS, SWP, NFWP
Other Australian states: *Qld S.A.
Similar to Acacia subulata which does not have hooked phyllode apices and the flower heads are a paler colour; the legumes are also different. The name refers to the reed like appearance of the phyllodes.
Text by P.G. Kodela (updated Apr 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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