Acacia gardneri

Acacia gardneri
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. gardneri
Binomial name
Acacia gardneri
Occurrence data from AVH
Synonyms[1]

Racosperma gardneri (Maiden & Blakely) Pedley

Acacia gardneri is a species of flowering plant in the family Fabaceae and is endemic to the far north of Western Australia. It is a slender, erect, glabrous shrub or tree with smooth bark, terete, light brown branchlets, narrowly elliptic phyllodes, spikes of pale yellow flowers and linear, thinly leathery pods, raised over and constricted between the seeds.

Description

Acacia gardneri is small tree or shrub that typically grows to a height up to 1.8–6 m (5 ft 11 in – 19 ft 8 in) and has smooth bark covered with a white, powdery bloom. The branchlets are terete, light brown and more or less covered with the same powdery bloom. The phyllodes are narrowly elliptic, abruptly narrowed at the base, 50–120 mm (2.0–4.7 in) long and 20–30 mm (0.79–1.18 in) wide with a curved upper margin and a more or less straight or curved lower margin. The phyllodes are slightly covered with a powdery bloom with three or four very prominent main veins. There is a gland up to 0.5 mm (0.020 in) above the base of the pulvinus. The flowers are pale yellow and loosely arranged along a spike 40–60 mm (1.6–2.4 in) long. Flowering occurs from May to August, and the pods are linear, thinly leathery, more or less twisted, 50–80 mm (2.0–3.1 in) long and more or less covered with a powdery bloom. The seeds are narrowly oblong, 4.0–4.5 mm (0.16–0.18 in) long and dark brown.[2][3][4][5][6]

Taxonomy

Acacia gardneri was first formally described in 1927 by the botanists Joseph Maiden and William Blakely in Journal of the Royal Society of Western Australia.[2][7] The specific epithet (gardneri) honours the botanist and collector Charles Austin Gardner.[8]

Distribution and habitat

This species of wattle grows on seasonally inundated sandstone flats dissected by outcropping sandstone, or in sandy soil among quartzite rocks on the banks of streams in the Central Kimberley and Northern Kimberley bioregions of northern Western Australia.[3][6]

Conservation status

Acacia gardneri is listed as "not threatened" by the Government of Western Australia Department of Biodiversity, Conservation and Attractions.[6]

See also

References

  1. ^ a b "Acacia gardneri". Australian Plant Census. Retrieved 20 January 2026.
  2. ^ a b Maiden, Joseph H.; Blakely, William F. (1927). "Descriptions of fifty new species and six varieties of western and northern Australian Acacias, and notes on four other species". Journal of the Royal Society of Western Australia. 13: 32. Retrieved 20 January 2026.
  3. ^ a b Tindale, Mary D.; Kodela, Phillip G. Orchard, Anthony E. (ed.). "Acacia gardneri". Flora of Australia. Australian Biological Resources Study, Department of Climate Change, Energy, the Environment and Water: Canberra. Retrieved 20 January 2026.
  4. ^ "Acacia gardneri". Australian Biological Resources Study. Retrieved 20 January 2026.
  5. ^ "Acacia gardneri". World Wide Wattle. Retrieved 20 January 2026.
  6. ^ a b c "Acacia gardneri". FloraBase. Western Australian Government Department of Biodiversity, Conservation and Attractions.
  7. ^ "Acacia gardneri". Australian Plant Name Index. Retrieved 20 January 2026.
  8. ^ George, Alex S.; Sharr, Francis A. (2023). Western Australian Plant Names and Their Meanings - A Glossary (fifth ed.). Kardinya: Four Gables Press. p. 208. ISBN 9780645629538.