Acacia adoxa
{{Short description|Species of legume}}
{{Speciesbox
|name = Grey whorled wattle
|genus = Acacia
|species = adoxa
|image = Acacia adoxa.jpg
|image_caption = In Karijini National Park
|authority = Pedley{{cite web |title=Acacia adoxa |url=https://biodiversity.org.au/nsl/services/apc-format/display/58136 |publisher=Australian Plant Census |access-date=17 May 2024}}
|synonyms = Racosperma adoxum (Pedley) Pedley
|range_map = Acacia adoxaDistMap19.png
|range_map_caption = Occurrence data from AVH
}}
Acacia adoxa, commonly known as the grey-whorled wattle,{{cite web |last1=George |first1=Alex S. |editor-last1=Maslin |editor-first1=Bruce R. |editor-last2=Kodela |editor-first2=Phillip G. |title=Acacia adoxa |url=https://profiles.ala.org.au/opus/foa/profile/Acacia%20adoxa |publisher=Flora of Australia. Australian Biological Resources Study, Department of Climate Change, Energy, the Environment and Water: Canberra |access-date=17 May 2024}} is a species of flowering plant in the family Fabaceae and is endemic to north-western Australia. It is a dense, low-lying shrub with linear, more or less cylindrical phyllodes in whorls of 6 to 10, heads of golden-yellow flowers, and flat, sticky pods.
Description
Acacia adoxa is a dense, low-lying shrub that typically grows to a height of up to {{cvt|50|cm}} and about {{cvt|1|m}} in diameter, sometimes to a height of {{cvt|1.5|m}} and sometimes has hairy branchlets. Its phyllodes are arranged in whorls of 6 to 10, and are more or less cylindrical to flattened, mostly {{cvt|2–5|mm}}, sometimes with a small point on the end, and an impressed vein on the lower surface. There is a linear stipule {{cvt|0.8–1.2|mm}} long at the base of the phyllode.{{cite web|url=http://worldwidewattle.com/speciesgallery/adoxa.php|title=Acacia adoxa|accessdate=5 September 2018|work=World Wide Wattle|publisher=Western Australian Herbarium}}{{cite journal |last1=Pedley |first1=Leslie |title=A revision of Acacia lycopodiifolia A. Cunn. ex Hook. and its Allies. |journal=Contributions from the Queensland Herbarium |date=1972 |volume=11 |pages=6–8 |doi=10.5962/p.366035 |url=https://www.biodiversitylibrary.org/item/322757#page/9/mode/1up |access-date=18 May 2024|doi-access=free }}
The flowers are golden-yellow, borne in heads of 25 to 35 on a peduncle mostly {{cvt|6–15|mm}} long. Flowering occurs from April to October,{{FloraBase|name=Acacia adoxa |id=11215 }} and the pods are flat, sessile {{cvt|25–60|mm}} long, {{cvt|6–7|mm}} wide, glabrous and sticky. The pods contain oblong seeds around {{cvt|4|mm}} long.
Taxonomy
Acacia adoxa was first formally described in 1972 by the botanist Leslie Pedley in Contributions from the Queensland Herbarium from specimens collected in the Northern Territory by George Chippendale.{{cite web|title=Acacia adoxa|url= https://biodiversity.org.au/nsl/services/rest/instance/apni/461798|publisher=APNI|accessdate=17 May 2024}} Pedley later reclassified the species in 2003 as Racosperma adoxum but the name was not accepted by the Australian Plant Census.{{cite web|title=Racosperma adoxum|url= https://biodiversity.org.au/nsl/services/rest/instance/apni/590245|publisher=APNI|accessdate=17 May 2024}}
Two varieties of A. adoxa are accepted by the Australian Plant Census:
- Acacia adoxa Pedley var. adoxa{{cite web |title=Acacia adoxa var. adoxa |url=https://biodiversity.org.au/nsl/services/apc-format/display/58147 |publisher=Australian Plant Census |access-date=17 May 2024}} has densely woolly hairy branchlets and softly hairy phyllodes and flowers.
- Acacia adoxa var. subglabra Pedley{{cite web |title=Acacia adoxa var. subglabra |url=https://biodiversity.org.au/nsl/services/apc-format/display/58157 |publisher=Australian Plant Census |access-date=17 May 2024}} has more or less glabrous branchlets, phyllodes and flowers.
The name of a hybrid between A. adoxa and Acacia spondylophylla is also accepted.{{cite web |title=Acacia adoxa Pedley var. adoxa Acacia spondylophylla F.Muell. |url=https://biodiversity.org.au/nsl/services/apc-format/display/239472 |publisher=Australian Plant Census |access-date=18 May 2024}}
Distribution and habitat
Grey-whorled wattle is widespread on red sandy soils, sandstone and ironstone gravel, and grows on coastal dunes, stony plains and ridges. In Western Australia it is found in the Central Kimberley, Dampierland, Gascoyne, Great Sandy Desert, Little Sandy Desert, Northern Kimberley, Ord Victoria Plain, Pilbara and Tanami IBRA bioregions. It is also found in the central western parts of the Northern Territory.{{cite web |title=Acacia adoxa |url=https://eflora.nt.gov.au/factsheet?id=3383 |publisher=Northern Territory Government |access-date=18 May 2024}}