Plants of
South Australia
Acacia glandulicarpa
Fabaceae
Hairy-pod Wattle
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Adelaide
Arkaroola
Ceduna
Coober Pedy
Hawker
Innamincka
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Botanical art

Kath Alcock paintings: 4

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. Glandulicarpa from the Latin 'glandula' meaning a small gland and Greek 'karpos' meaning fruit, referring to the legume covered with glandular hairs.

Distribution and status

Found in two small populations in South Australia, the main population in the northern Mount Lofty Ranges, in the Burra Gorge area on rocky hillside in open scrub vegetation and also in the South-east close to Victoria. Also found in Victoria. Native. Very rare in South Australia. Very rare in Victoria.
Herbarium regions: Northern Lofty, Murray, South Eastern
NRM regions: Adelaide and Mount Lofty Ranges, South Australian Murray-Darling Basin, South East
AVH map: SA distribution map (external link)

Plant description

Somewhat viscid, rather dense, rounded, spreading, much branched shrubs to 2 m high with a dull olive-green foliage. Branches grey-brown, terete, pubescent, marked with small raised leaf bases along the stems. Leaves obliquely oblong-obovate to more or less elliptical to 12 mm long and 6 mm wide, erect, thick, rigid, glabrous, minutely glandular, sometimes viscid when young; lower edges usually undulate, 2-veined with the central vein more prominent. Inflorescences simple and axillary, solitary or twin with globular, bright yellow flower-heads. Flowering between July and October. Fruits are narrowly oblong, straight or curved pods to 3 cm long and 3 mm wide, viscid and covered with glandular shining hairs. Seeds are hard, dark brown, obovoid to ellipsoid seeds to 5 mm long and 3 mm wide. Seed embryo type is investing.

Seed collection and propagation

Collect seeds between November and December. 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 four collections, the seed viability was very low to high, ranging from 5% to 90%. 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:
  Hide
LocationNo. of seeds
(weight grams)
Number
of plants
Date
collected
Collection number
Collection location
Date
stored
% ViabilityStorage
temperature
BGA653 (6.53 g)32-Dec-2004DJD63
South Eastern
31-Mar-2006 -18°C
BGA 
MSB
24,500 (318.5 g)
24,500 (318.5 g)
100+6-Dec-2004PJA93
Northern Lofty
31-Mar-200690%-18°C
BGA1,300 (7.55 g)30+24-Dec-2005KHB24
Northern Lofty
1-Aug-20065%-18°C
BGA1,350 (11.52 g)30+28-Nov-2007KHB92
Northern Lofty
19-Sep-200880%-18°C
BGA4,300 (64.47 g)50+27-Dec-2007KHB110
Northern Lofty
19-Sep-200890%-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.