Acacia spinescens Benth.; spiny wattle

G. Bentham, Hook. Lond. J. Bot. 1: 323 (1842). 

spina (L.), thorn, spine; -escens (L.), beginning,  refers to the branches ending in a spine or sharp point. 

Syn. Choretrum oxycladum F. Muell. Fragm. Phyt. Aust. 1: 121 (1858); A. B. Court, Muelleria 2:158 (1972). 
                                                                                    
Small, glabrous, erect, rigid, spreading intricate shrubs to 1 m high; branches spinescent, grey-green,  terete but striate with thin light coloured ridges. Phyllodes absent or if present (very rarely) then articulate, thick, linear, 1-5 cm long and to 2 mm broad,1-veined with a curved or hooked point, lnfiorescences simple; flower-heads small, globular, bright yellow, 3-8-flowered, sessile or sometimes on peduncles to 6 mm long; flowers 5-merous; bracts and bracteoles brown, not as conspicuous as in A. continua. Legumes shortly stipitate, linear-moniliform, curved, 2-3 cmlong and to.3 mm broad; margins thick, light brown. Seeds longitudinal in legume, obloid-ellipsoid; funicle short, not folded, expanded into a fleshy clavate aril.

Flowering time. July-October. 

Occurrence. Eyre Peninsula, Yorke Peninsula, Northern and Southern Lofty, Murray, South-Eastern (upper part) and Kangaroo Island regions, throughout these areas associated with a number of different vegetation formations and a wide variety of soil types. Rainfall 300-1 200 mm. Also N.S.W. and western Vic.

Cultivation. A useful, hardy, low growing shrub suitable for group plantings or on rockeries, thrives on a variety of soil types, moderate to fast growth rate.

(Source Whibley & Symon 1992)