Acacia genistifolia

Phylogeny & links to associated information

Wikipedia links:       Angiosperms > Eudicots > Rosids  > Fagales > Fabeaceae > Acacia genistifolia

Other links:     

Plant information 

Common name:                Early wattle 

• Also, spreading wattle 

Conservation status:  . . .

Etymology:   

• Borrowed from Latin acacia, from Ancient Greek ἀκακία (akakía) "a thorny Egyptian tree", from ἀκή (akḗ) "point, thorn

• Genistifolia: having foliage similar to the genus Genista (a generally Mediterranean genus)

Flowers:                  

• It blooms between late summer and spring producing inflorescences with cream or pale yellow coloured flowers that are found in spherical shaped clusters appearing in the phyllode axils

• The simple inflorescences mostly occur in groups of two to four and the flower-heads contain 12 to 25 flowers

Fruit:                         

• The linear thinly coriaceous seed pods that appear after flowering are raised over the seeds and have a length of 4 to 11 cm and a width of 4 to 7 mm

• The seeds found within the pods are longitudinally arranged with a length of 3.5 to 5.5 mm

Leaves:         

• It has rigid and narrow phyllodes that are 15 to 30 mm in length and terminate with a sharp point

Stem & branches: 

Roots:         

Habit:        

• The small to medium-sized shrub can reach a height of around 3 m

Habitat:   

• It forms part of open forest or heath communities

• It grows in many different types of soils at an altitude of less than 1,000 m as a part of dry sclerophyll forest or heathland communities

Distribution:                  

• Endemic to south eastern Australia   

• Includes NSW, eastern Victoria and eastern Tasmania 

• The plants range extends from around Dubbo in the north down through the ACT to the Grampians in Victoria

• The species is more common in north eastern Tasmania including Bruny and Flinders Islands

Sources of information:

• https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Acacia_genistifolia (2023)