Common name: green wattle, Dean's wattle
Acacia deanei (R.T.Baker) M.B.Welch, Coombs & McGlynn APNI* Synonyms: Acacia decurrens var. deanei R.T.Baker APNI*
Description: Spreading to erect shrub or tree 1.5–7 m high; bark smooth, green or grey-brown; branchlets angled to terete with ridges, usually minutely yellow to whitish appressed-hairy to subglabrous (similar indumentum on leaf axes).
Leaves with petiole 0.4–3 cm long, 1 raised gland at base of or to 5 mm or sometimes more below basal pinnae; rachis 0.7–6.5 cm long, appressed-haiy, jugary glands present, interjugary glands absent or 1–3 between some or all pairs of pinnae; pinnae 1–12 pairs, 0.7–6.5 cm long; pinnules 7–45 pairs, oblong to linear, 1.5–12 mm long, 0.4–1.3 mm wide, with minute appressed hairs (at least on lower surface) to glabrous.
Inflorescences in terminal and axillary racemes and panicles; peduncles 1–5 mm long, with golden to whitish appressed hairs; heads globose, 15–30-flowered, 3–5.5 mm diam., cream-coloured to pale yellow or sometimes yellow.
Pods straight to curved, ± flat, slightly to deeply and often irregularly constricted between seeds, 3.5–18 cm long, 5.5–11 mm wide, leathery, with minute appressed hairs, ± glabrescent with age; seeds longitudinal; funicle filiform or expanded towards seed.
Flowering: throughout year.
Distribution and occurrence: widespread, on the ranges west to the Louth area. Grows in a variety of sclerophyll communities in various soil types.
NSW subdivisions: NT, CT, ST, NWS, CWS, SWS, NWP, SWP
Other Australian states: Qld Vic.
Named after Henry Deane (1847-1924), a railway engineer and amateur botanist, who collected the type specimen. May be confused with Acacia mearnsii or A. parramattensis, both of which have more pairs of pinnae and pinnules, A. parvipinnula which has densely hairy branchlets and diverging buds in the heads, and A. leucoclada which has greyish hairs on the peduncles and glabrous petals (T. Tame, Acacias of Southeast Australia, 1992). The branchlets and leaves in subsp. paucijuga are mostly less hairy than in subsp. deanei, as well as the pinnules being usually longer and more separated.
Text by P.G. Kodela (last edited May 2012)
Taxon concept: P.G. Kodela & G.J. Harden (2002)
| | Key to the subspecies | |
| 1 | Branchlets densely minutely appressed-hairy to subglabrous; petiole mostly 0.5–1.5 cm long; pinnae 3–12 pairs, mostly 1–3.5 cm long, with up to 34 pairs of pinnules; pinnules mostly oblong to narrow-oblong, 1.5–5 mm long, 0.5–1.3 mm wide, sparsely to moderately hairy especially beneath; calyx lobes and sometimes parts of tube with minute hairs; petals usually with hairs towards apex. | subsp. deanei |
| Branchlets minutely appressed-hairy to glabrous, often dark purplish brown, sometimes appearing pruinose if indumentum sparse; petiole 0.5–3 cm long; pinnae 1–8 or more pairs (often only 1–4 pairs with petiole length longer relative to rachis length than in subsp. deanei), 1.5–6.5 cm long, with up to 45 pairs of pinnules; pinnules mostly narrow-oblong to ± linear, 4–12 mm long, 0.4–1 mm wide, with sparse hairs to glabrous; calyx and petals glabrous or with a few hairs. | subsp. paucijuga |
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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