Acacia dermatophylla

Acacia dermatophylla
Scientific classification
Kingdom: Plantae
Clade: Tracheophytes
Clade: Angiosperms
Clade: Eudicots
Clade: Rosids
Order: Fabales
Family: Fabaceae
Subfamily: Caesalpinioideae
Clade: Mimosoid clade
Genus: Acacia
Species:
A. dermatophylla
Binomial name
Acacia dermatophylla
Occurrence data from AVH
Synonyms[1]

Racosperma dermatophyllum (Benth.) Pedley

Acacia dermatophylla is a species of flowering plant in the family Fabaceae and is endemic to the south of Western Australia. It is an open, often wispy, single-stemmed shrub with lance-shaped phyllodes with the narrower end towards the base, erect stipules, spherical heads of golden yellow flowers and glabrous, narrowly oblong, hard and bony pods.

Description

Acacia dermatophylla is an open, often wispy, single stemmed shrub that typically grows to a height of 20–50 cm (1–2 ft) and has glabrous branchlets. Its phyllodes are lance-shaped with the narrower end towards the base, or linear, 20–55 mm (0.79–2.17 in) long and 4–15 mm (0.16–0.59 in) wide, thickly leathery and sharply pointed. There are persistent, erect, shallowly curved stipules, 4–8 mm (0.16–0.31 in) long and sometimes sharply pointed at the base of the phyllodes. The phyllodes are more or less glaucous with a prominent midrib and there is a gland at about 6 mm (0.24 in) above the base. The flowers are borne in spherical heads in two racemes in axils on a peduncle mostly 5.5–15 mm (0.22–0.59 in) long, each head 5–7 mm (0.20–0.28 in) in diameter with 20 to 40 golden yellow flowers. Flowering occurs from July to October, and the pods are narrowly oblong, more or less biconvex and not constricted between the seeds, up to 65 mm (2.6 in) long, 8–10 mm (0.31–0.39 in) wide, hard, bony and glabrous. The seeds are oblong to broadly elliptic, about 5 mm (0.20 in) long and dull brown with a crest-like aril on the end.[2][3][4][5]

Taxonomy

Acacia dermatophylla was first formally described in 1864 by the botanist George Bentham in his Flora Australiensis from "specimens collected near the Murchison River" by Augustus Oldfield.[6][7] The specific epithet (dermatophylla) means 'skin-leaved', referring to the smooth phyllodes.[8]

Distribution and habitat

This species of wattle grows in sandy loam or clay on undulating plains, low-lying areas and near salt flats from near the Fitzgerald River to near Ponier Rock about 65 km (40 mi) south-west of Balladonia in the Esperance Plains and Mallee bioregions of Western Australia.[5][3] The type specimens is reported to come from the Murchison River, but it is the only specimen collected north of Perth, and may well be an error, because Olfield collected both north and south of Perth.[2]

Conservation status

Acacia dermatophylla is listed as "not threatened" by the Government of Western Australia Department of Biodiversity, Conservation and Attractions.[5]

See also

References

  1. ^ a b "Acacia dermatophylla". Australian Plant Census. Retrieved 12 September 2025.
  2. ^ a b Maslin, Bruce R. Kodela, Phillip G.; Orchard, Anthony E. (eds.). "Acacia dermatophylla". Flora of Australia. Australian Biological Resources Study, Department of Climate Change, Energy, the Environment and Water: Canberra. Retrieved 12 September 2025.
  3. ^ a b "Acacia dermatophylla". World Wide Wattle. Western Australian Herbarium. Retrieved 21 April 2019.
  4. ^ "Acacia dermatophylla". Australian Biological Resources Study. Retrieved 12 September 2025.
  5. ^ a b c "Acacia dermatophylla". FloraBase. Western Australian Government Department of Biodiversity, Conservation and Attractions.
  6. ^ "Acacia dermatophylla". APNI. Retrieved 12 September 2025.
  7. ^ Bentham, George (1864). Flora Australiensis. London: Lovell Reeve & Co. pp. 346–347. Retrieved 12 September 2025.
  8. ^ George, Alex S.; Sharr, Francis A. (2023). Western Australian Plant Names and Their Meanings - A Glossary (fifth ed.). Kardinya: Four Gables Press. p. 183. ISBN 9780645629538.