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Electronic Flora of South Australia species Fact Sheet

Family: Fabaceae
Acacia rupicola

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Citation: G. Bentham, Linnaea 26:610 (1855).

Derivation: rupes (Latin)--rock; colo (Latin)--to inhabit.

Synonymy: Not Applicable

Common name: Rock wattle

Description:
Erect, glabrous, rigid, prickly, somewhat diffuse, viscid shrubs with a resinous odour, 1-2.5 m high; branches light green, slightly angular or marked with striate resinous ridges; bark dark grey near base.

Phyllodes linear-lanceolate to narrowly triangular, broad and swollen at the base, 1.5-2.5 cm long, 1.5-2.5 mm broad, a mid-vein prominent and raised, margins thickened.

Inflorescences simple and axillary, solitary; flower-heads globular, creamy yellow, c. 20-flowered; peduncles viscid, 5-15 mm long; flowers 4-merous.

Legumes linear, 4-7 cm long, 3-5 mm broad, usually curved; surface rugose, margins pale, slightly thickened and scarcely constricted between the seeds, apex acute. Seeds longitudinal in legume; funicle much folded and thickening into a broad aril covering the base of the seed.

Distribution:  Eyre Peninsula (southern part), Flinders Ranges from Quorn to Wirrabara, Yorke Peninsula (southern part), Northern and Southern Lofty, Kangaroo Island, Murray (Monarto area) and South-Eastern regions to around Bordertown. In woodland to open forest vegetation in rocky areas associated with Eucalyptus camaldulensis and E. leucoxylon or in open scrub in near coastal areas associated with E. diversifolia. Soils: mainly sandy alkaline yellow duplex, calcareous sands and hard alkaline red duplex. Rainfall 300-800 mm. Also western Vic.

S.Aust.: FR, EP, NL, MU, YP, SL, KI, SE.

Flowering time: August — November.


SA Distribution Map based
on current data relating to
specimens held in the
State Herbarium of South Australia

Biology: No text

Related taxa: Resembles Acacia oxycedrus and A. rhigiophylla as to phyllode characters; both these species have flowers in spikes.

Cultivation: Although the foliage is prickly to touch, it makes a useful ornamental shrub and does well on rocky ground or sandy neutral to alkaline soils. Moderate to fast growth rate.

Author: Not yet available

Source:


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