Plants of
South Australia
Acacia alcockii
Fabaceae
Alcock'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
Adelaide
Arkaroola
Ceduna
Coober Pedy
Hawker
Innamincka
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Oodnadatta
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Keith
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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. Alcockii commemorates Mr C. R. Alcock who collected plants extensively on Eyre Peninsula and first found this species.

Distribution and status

Endemic to South Australia and is often found in sand over limestone, more rarely on skeletal soils or sandy soils over granite. It is restricted to the southern tip of Eyre Peninsula. Native. Rare in South Australia.
Herbarium region: Eyre Peninsula
NRM region: Eyre Peninsula
AVH map: SA distribution map (external link)

Plant description

Bushy shrub or small tree to 3 m often suckering, with grey or brown bark at the base and reddish on young branches. Phyllodes dark green, narrowly elliptic to oblanceolate, slightly asymmetric narrowed towards base to 9 cm long and 2 cm wide. Inflorescences axillary, racemose with globular pale-yellow flower-heads. Flowering between December and February. Fruits are brown, oblong to narrow-oblong pod to 9 cm long and 8 mm wide, not much raised over seeds, with straight edged or slightly constricted between seeds. Seeds are black oblong to elliptic seed to 6 mm long and 3 mm wide. Seed embryo type is investing.

Seed collection and propagation

Collect seeds between December and May. 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. From one collection, the seed viability was high, at 95%. 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
BGA 
MSB
2,000 (340 g)
2,000 (340 g)
1208-Dec-2004DJD73
Eyre Peninsula
31-Mar-200695%-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.