Plants of
South Australia
Acacia stricta
Fabaceae
Straight Wattle,
Hop 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
Marla
Marree
Mount Gambier
Oodnadatta
Renmark
Wudinna
Keith
Yunta
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Botanical art

Kath Alcock paintings: 9

Prior names

Acacia leprosa

Acacia emarginata

Mimosa stricta

Common names

Straight Wattle

Hop 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. Stricta from the Latin 'strictus' meaning drawn together, straight or erect; referring to its stiff upright habit pecies.

Distribution and status

Found in a small localised area in the South-east in South Australia between Millicent and Mount Gambier. Grows with Eucalyptus baxteri with heath understorey, often in damp areas. Also found in Queensland, New South Wales, Victoria and Tasmania. Native. Rare in South Australia. Common in the other States.
Herbarium regions: Southern Lofty, South Eastern
NRM regions: Adelaide and Mount Lofty Ranges, South East
AVH map: SA distribution map (external link)

Plant description

Tall, erect, dull green, or slightly glaucous and sometimes viscid shrubs to 4 m high, with ascending, angular, striate branches with resinous ridges on the young branchlets. Leaves linear-lanceolate to narrow-linear or oblong to 12 cm long and 15 mm broad, flat, glabrous. Central vein prominent with numerous fine lateral veins, apex obtuse, blunt or with a short oblique point; glands near the base. Inflorescences axillary and twin, or in clusters up to 4 with globular, creamy-yellow flower-heads. Flowering between August and October Fruits are light brown, narrow-oblong, straight pod to 7 cm long and 5 mm wide, flattish, thin with margins not constricted. Seeds are hard, dark brown reniform seed to 5 mm long and 2.5 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 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
BGA4,400 (34.62 g)12+10-Dec-2009DJD1711
South Eastern
1-Jun-201090%-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.