Wooly wattle
Acacia lanigera illustrated in The Botanical Magazine in 1829.
Scientific classification Edit this classification
Kingdom: Plantae
Clade: Tracheophytes
Clade: Angiosperms
Clade: Eudicots
Clade: Rosids
Order: Fabales
Family: Fabaceae
Subfamily: Caesalpinioideae
Clade: Mimosoid clade
Genus: Acacia
Species:
A. lanigera
Binomial name
Acacia lanigera
Occurrence data from AVH
Synonyms
  • Racosperma lanigerum (A.Cunn.) Pedley

Acacia lanigera, commonly known as woolly wattle or hairy wattle, is a tree species that is endemic south eastern Australia.

Description

It has an erect or spreading habit, growing up to 2 m (6 ft 7 in) high, The phyllodes, which may be hairy or glabrous, are up to 20 to 70 mm (0.79 to 2.76 in) in length and 2 to 8 mm (0.079 to 0.315 in) wide. The bright yellow globular flowerheads appear in the leaf axils from May to October, followed by curved or coiled seedpods that are densely covered with white hairs and are up to 10 cm (3.9 in) long.[2]

Taxonomy

Three varieties are currently recognised:

  • Acacia lanigera var. gracilipes Benth., occurring in the Wallagaraugh River area in south-eastern New South Wales and Victoria.[2]
  • Acacia lanigera A.Cunn. var. lanigera
  • Acacia lanigera var. whanii (F.Muell. ex Benth.) Pescott, a variety first collected from Skipton, Victoria by William Taylor Whan.[1]

The variety venulosa is currently regarded as a species in its own right - Acacia venulosa.[1]

Distribution

The species occurs in New South Wales, Victoria and the Australian Capital Territory.[1] It was first formally described by botanist Allan Cunningham in Geographical Memoirs on New South Wales in 1825.[1] He described it as "a shrub frequent on rocky barren ranges in the interior".[1]

Cultivation

The species prefers a well-drained sunny situation and will tolerate frosts down to -7 Celsius. It is adaptable to use in situations where maintenance is infrequent such as road batters.[3]

References

  1. 1 2 3 4 5 6 "Acacia lanigera". Australian Plant Name Index (APNI), IBIS database. Centre for Plant Biodiversity Research, Australian Government, Canberra. Retrieved 2010-08-10.
  2. 1 2 "Acacia lanigera". PlantNET - New South Wales Flora Online. Royal Botanic Gardens & Domain Trust, Sydney Australia. Retrieved 2010-08-10.
  3. ↑ "Information about Australia's flora". Australian National Herbarium. Retrieved 12 July 2019.
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