Acacia phasmoides

Location & distribution maps

Phylogeny & links to associated information

Wikipedia links:       Angiosperms > Eudicots > Rosids  > Fagales > Fabaceae > Acacia  phasmoides

Other links:     

Common name:                Phantom Wattle

Conservation status:  Vulnerable

Etymology:   

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

• The epithet was bestowed in order to emphasise the extremely open, wraith-like appearance of this insubstantial shrub

Flowers:                  

• The bright yellow globular flowerheads appear singly or in groups of two in the axils of the phyllodes from September to November

Fruit:                         

• Curved seed pods which are 5 to 9 cm long and 2 to 4 mm wide

Leaves:         

Stem & branches: 

Roots:         

Habit:        

• It grows to between 1 and 4 m high and has phyllodes that are 5 to 12.5 cm long and 1 to 2 mm wide

Habitat:   

Distribution:                  

• Endemic to south-eastern Australia

• Its distribution is limited to a small area on the border between south-eastern NSW and north-eastern Victoria

• In NSW it is found along the southern edge of Woomargama National Park and has an estimated population of 2000 plants

• In Victoria it is found in the Burrowa-Pine Mountain National Park from two stands east of the summit of Pine Mountain with nine plants in one stand and between 150 and 250 in the other

• The Victorian populations are located approximately 35 km (22 mi) from the NSW populations

Additional notes:     

• Taxonomy

  • The species was formally described in 1967 by botanist Jim Willis based on plant material collected from Pine Mountain in north-eastern Victoria

  • It was reclassified as Racosperma phasmoides by Leslie Pedley in 2003 and then transferred back to genus Acacia in 2006

Sources of information:

• https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Acacia_phasmoides (2024)