Plants of
South Australia
Acacia whibleyana
Fabaceae
Whibley's Wattle
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Regional Species Conservation Assessments per IBRA subregion.
Least concern
Near threatened
Rare
Vulnerable
Endangered
Critically endangered
Extinct
Data deficient
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Hawker
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Common names

Whibley's Wattle

Etymology

Acacia from the Greek 'akakia' and derived from 'ake' or 'akis' meaning a sharp point or thorn and 'akazo' meaning to sharpen. Dioscorides, the Greek physician and botanist used the word in the 1st century AD for the Egyptian thorn tree, Acacia arabica. Whibleyana named after David John Edward Whibley (1936-2002 ), who is remembered by systematists around Australia as a helpful 'gentle man' of Acacia at Adelaide Herbarium.

Distribution and status

Endemic to South Australia and restricted to an area within 40 km of Tumby Bay on southern Eyre Peninsula, growing on loamy soils over limestone, sometimes near brackish swamps. Native. Very rare in South Australia.
Herbarium region: Eyre Peninsula
AVH map: SA distribution map (external link)

Plant description

Dense shrub to 2.5 m tall and spreading to 4 m diameter. Leaves elliptic to oblanceolate to 7.5 mm long and 4.5 mm wide, more or less asymmetric; tip curved to rostriform (beaked), occasionally straight, apiculate (tapered) to the 0.5 mm. Pulvinus (leaf stalk), rigid, thick wrinkled, ascending, mostly straight, occasionally slightly curved, glabrous, dull mid-green. Flower-spike a peduncle (5-11 mm long, 2 per node) with globular, bright-golden heads. Flowering between August and September. Fruits are brown narrow-oblong glabrous pod to 45 mm long and 7.5 mm wide, slightly raised over but not constricted between seeds, margins more or less thickened. Seeds are hard, dark brown to black ovoid seed to 3 mm long and 2.5 mm wide. Seed embryo type is investing.

Seed collection and propagation

Collect seeds between December and January. Collect mature pods that are turning brown, with hard, dark seeds inside. Place the pods in a tray and leave to dry for 1-2 weeks or until the pods begin to split. Then rub the dried pods to dislodge the seeds. Use a sieve to separate any unwanted material. Store the seeds with a desiccant such as dried silica beads or dry rice, in an air tight container in a cool and dry place. This species has physical dormancy that needs to be overcome for the seed to germinate (e.g. nicking or softening the seed coat).

Seeds stored:
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LocationNo. of seeds
(weight grams)
Number
of plants
Date
collected
Collection number
Collection location
Date
stored
% ViabilityStorage
temperature
BGA4,033 (40.33 g)1820-Jan-2004MKJ19
Eyre Peninsula
1-Sep-2004 +5°C, -18°C
BGA 
MSB
5,393 (37.75 g)
5,393 (37.75 g)
1720-Jan-2004MKJ18
Eyre Peninsula
1-Sep-2004 +5°C, -18°C
BGA128,000 (1030 g)21-Dec-2004K.Pobke
Eyre Peninsula
10-Aug-2006 -18°C
BGA67,000 (438 g)100+21-Dec-2017DJD3726
Eyre Peninsula
30-Jun-201890%-18°C, -80°C
BGA6,000 (55.19 g)1120-Dec-2017DJD3725
Eyre Peninsula
30-Jun-201895%-18°C
BGA16,200 (108.12 g)1420-Dec-2017JRG639
Eyre Peninsula
30-Jun-201895%-18°C, -80°C
BGA14,700 (96.09 g)102-Jan-2019G. Turner
Eyre Peninsula
24-Jun-202088%-18°C
BGA5,100 (28.44 g)122-Jan-2019G. Turner
Eyre Peninsula
24-Jun-202084%-18°C
BGA13,000 (77.72 g)202-Jan-2019G. Turner
Eyre Peninsula
24-Jun-202082%-18°C
BGA6,600 (32.900 g)2-Jan-2019J. Turner
Eyre Peninsula
28-Jun-202166%-18°C
Location: BGA — the seeds are stored at the Adelaide Botanic Gardens, MSB — the seeds are stored at the Millennium Seed Bank, Kew, England.
Number of plants: This is the number of plants from which the seeds were collected.
Collection location: The Herbarium of South Australia's region name.
% Viability: Percentage of filled healthy seeds determined by a cut test or x-ray.
Germination table:
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