Botanical art
Common names
Imbricate Wattle
Feathery 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. Imbricata from the Latin 'imbrex' meaning covered with tiles or scales, referring to the overlapping phyllodes.
Distribution and status
Endemic to South Australia and restricted to southern Eyre Peninsula, growing in open forest, woodland or open scrub vegetation in mainly hard acidic, neutral and sandy alkaline yellow duplex. Native. Rare in South Australia.
Herbarium region: Eyre Peninsula
AVH map: SA distribution map (external link)
Plant description
Dense, spreading, glabrous shrubs to 2 m high with numerous thin, ascending and somewhat willowy branches marked with numerous raised leaf bases. Leaves linear-oblong to 16 mm long and 2 mm, broad, flat erect, crowded, imbricate, glabrous. Inflorescences simple and axillary, solitary or twin with globular, bright yellow flower-heads. Flowering between July and September. Fruits are long, straight or slightly curved, light brown pod. Seeds are hard, dark brown to black, ovoid to elliptical seed 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 one collection, the seed viability was high, at 100%. This species has physical dormancy that needs to be overcome for the seed to germinate (e.g. nicking or softening the seed coat).
| Location | No. of seeds (weight grams) | Number of plants | Date collected | Collection number Collection location | Date stored | % Viability | Storage temperature |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| BGA MSB | 21,100 (211 g) 21,500 (215 g) | 100+ | 7-Dec-2004 | DJD69 Eyre Peninsula | 31-Mar-2006 | 100% | -18°C |
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.