Common name: silver wattle, blue wattle, mimosa
Acacia dealbata Link APNI* Synonyms: Racosperma dealbatum (Link) Pedley APNI*
Racosperma dealbatum (Link) Pedley APNI*
Acacia puberula Dehnh. APNI*
Acacia decurrens var. dealbata (Link) F.Muell. ex Maiden APNI*
Acacia decurrens var. mollis Lindl. APNI*
Description: Erect shrub or tree to 30 m high; bark smooth, deeply fissured with age, grey, grey-green or brown to almost black; branchlets angled towards apices, with ridges, hairy, pruinose.
Leaves bluish grey to silvery or sometimes green; petiole 0.1–1.5 cm long, hairy, mostly with a gland at base of first pair of pinnae (sometimes absent); rachis 1–12 cm long (rarely to 17 cm long), hairy, ± circular jugary glands present (sometimes missing from basal pair of pinnae), interjugary glands absent; pinnae 6–30 pairs, 0.5–5.5 cm long; pinnules 10–68 pairs, ± narrowly oblong to linear, 0.7–6 mm long, 0.4–1 mm wide, hairy mainly on margins and lower surface.
Inflorescences in terminal or axillary panicles or racemes; peduncles 2–6 mm long, hairy; heads globose, 17–35-flowered, 4–7.5 mm diam., yellow to bright yellow.
Pods straight to slightly curved, ± flat, often slightly constricted between some or all seeds, 2–11.5 cm long, 6–14 mm wide, thinly leathery, glabrous, usually ± pruinose; seeds longitudinal; funicle filiform.
Flowering: July–November.
Distribution and occurrence: south from Ben Lomond. Grows usually in dry sclerophyll forest or woodland, on a variety of substrates, often on slopes and creek banks.
NSW subdivisions: NT, CT, ST, NWS, CWS, SWS, SWP
Other Australian states: Vic. Tas. *S.A. *W.A.
The name alludes to the whitish appearance of the branchlets and foliage. Acacia dealbata may be confused with A. mearnsii which has interjugary glands on the rachis and usually golden-hairy peduncles, and with A. silvestris which has larger pinnules, interjugary glands and appressed hairs. A. dealbata regenerates after fire and often forms fire induced thickets. (T. Tame, Acacias of Southeast Australia, 1992). Reported to hybridise with A. baileyana and other Acacia species. The cultivar A. dealbata 'Kambah Karpet' is a prostrate ground cover. Intermediates between the subspecies occur especially where they intergrade on hillslopes.
Text by P.G. Kodela (last edited October 2017)
Taxon concept: P.G Kodela & G.J. Harden (2002)
| | Key to the subspecies | |
| 1 | Pinnae mostly 1.5–5.5 cm long; pinnules 1.5–6 mm long; tree to 30 m high. | subsp. dealbata |
| Pinnae 0.5–2.5 cm long, occasionally to 3 cm long; pinnules mostly 0.7–4 mm long; shrub or small tree to 5 m high, rarely to 10 m high. | subsp. subalpina |
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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