Acacia auricoma
| Petermann wattle | |
|---|---|
Scientific classification 
| |
| Kingdom: | Plantae |
| Clade: | Tracheophytes |
| Clade: | Angiosperms |
| Clade: | Eudicots |
| Clade: | Rosids |
| Order: | Fabales |
| Family: | Fabaceae |
| Subfamily: | Caesalpinioideae |
| Clade: | Mimosoid clade |
| Genus: | Acacia |
| Species: | A. auricoma
|
| Binomial name | |
| Acacia auricoma | |
| |
| Occurrence data from AVH | |
| Synonyms[1] | |
|
Racosperma auricomum (Maslin) Pedley | |
Acacia auricoma, commonly known as Petermann wattle, alumaru or nyalpilintji wattle,[2] is a species of flowering plant in the family Fabaceae and is endemic to an area near the border between Western Australia and the Northern Territory. It is a straggly shrub with leathery elliptic phyllodes, spherical spikes of golden-yellow flowers, and narrowly oblong pods up to 80 mm (3.1 in) long.
Description
[edit]Acacia auricoma is a rather straggly, sparsely branched shrub that typically grows to a height of 1.5–3 m (4 ft 11 in – 9 ft 10 in), its new shoots covered with golden-coloured hairs. The phyllodes are leathery, elliptic, 30–100 mm (1.2–3.9 in) long and 15–40 mm (0.59–1.57 in) in diameter with three to five main veins and two to four glands in shallow notches along the upper edges. The flowers are golden-yellow and arranged in one or two spherical heads in axils, each head with 100 to 135 densely packed flowers and 7–8 mm (0.28–0.31 in) in diameter on a peduncle 15–30 mm (0.59–1.18 in) long. Flowering has been recorded from March to May and in August, November and December. The pods are narrowly oblong, firmly papery to thinly leathery, up to 80 mm (3.1 in) long and 15–25 mm (0.59–0.98 in) wide containing dull, dark brown, oblong to elliptic seeds 5.5–6.5 mm (0.22–0.26 in) long with an aril on the end.[2][3][4][5][6]
Taxonomy
[edit]Acacia auricoma was first formally described in 1980 by the botanist Bruce Maslin in the Journal of the Adelaide Botanic Gardens from specimens collected in Bloods Range in the Northern Territory by John Richard Maconochie in 1972.[3][7] The specific epithet (auricoma) means 'golden hair' or 'golden foliage',[8] referring to the hairs on the new shoots, peduncles, sepals and tips of the petals.[3]
Distribution
[edit]Petermann wattle is endemic to a small area near the border between Western Australia and the Northern Territory, from around Anne Range in Western Australia and between the Bloods Range and the Petermann Ranges in the Northern Territory, where it grows on quartzite scree slopes in open shrubland with spinifex, in the Central Ranges and Great Sandy Desert bioregions.[6][9]
Conservation status
[edit]Acacia auricoma is listed as "Priority Three" by the Government of Western Australia Department of Biodiversity, Conservation and Attractions[6] meaning that it is poorly known and known from only a few locations but is not under imminent threat,[10] but as of "least concern" by the Government of the Northern Territory.[9]
See also
[edit]References
[edit]- ^ a b "Acacia auricoma". Australian Plant Census. Retrieved 11 February 2025.
- ^ a b Cowan, Richard S.; Maslin, Bruce R.; Kodela, Phillip G. "Acacia auricoma". Flora of Australia. Australian Biological Resources Study, Department of Climate Change, Energy, the Environment and Water: Canberra. Retrieved 11 February 2025.
- ^ a b c Maslin, Bruce R. (1980). "Acacia (Leguminosae-Mimosoideae): A contribution to the flora of central Australia". Journal of the Adelaide Botanic Gardens. 2 (4): 303–306. Retrieved 11 February 2025.
- ^ "Acacia auricoma". World Wide Wattle. Western Australian Herbarium. Retrieved 29 September 2020.
- ^ "Acacia auricoma". Lucid Keys. Retrieved 11 February 2025.
- ^ a b c "Acacia auricoma". FloraBase. Western Australian Government Department of Biodiversity, Conservation and Attractions.
- ^ "Acacia auricoma". Retrieved 11 February 2025.
- ^ George, Alex; Sharr, Francis (2021). Western Australian Plant Names and Their Meanings (3rd ed.). Kardinya, WA: Four Gables Press. p. 140. ISBN 9780958034180.
- ^ a b "Acacia auricoma". Northern Territory Government. Retrieved 11 February 2025.
- ^ "Conservation codes for Western Australian Flora and Fauna" (PDF). Government of Western Australia Biodiversity, Conservation and Attractions. Retrieved 11 February 2025.