Family

Fabaceae

Distribution

Occurs from Kalbarri S to Mandurah, and also at Bunbury, extending inland to Coorow, W.A.

Description

Shrub 0.3-1.5 m high, compact or open. Spines few or numerous, sometimes absent. Branchlet indumentum variable; hairs patent, antrorse or retrorse, sometimes appressed. Pinnae 3-10 mm long; pinnules (3-) 4-6 (-8) pairs, 2-3 mm long, usually revolute, glabrous or puberulous to hirsutellous. Peduncles 6-12 mm long, with indumentum as on branchlets; heads 5-7 mm diam. (dry), 25-50-flowered; bracteoles acute to short-acuminate. Pods flat, glabrous or puberulous. Seed greyish brown, not mottled.

Habitat

Common on coastal sand dunes in heath, and inland in sandy gravel in shrubland and woodland.

Specimens

W.A.: c. 33 km E of Geraldton towards Mullewa, B.R.Maslin 689 (MEL, NSW, PERTH); Fremantle, L.Preiss 898 p.p. (LUND, M, MEL, MO, P, STR, TCD, W); 12 km S of Bindoon on Great Northern Hwy, M.D.Tindale 2623 (NSW, PERTH).

Notes

The above description applies to typical var. lasiocarpa which extends from Kalbarri S to near Bunbury. On coastal dunes it is a low, compact shrub with axillary spines few or absent; in northern inland areas it is a tall, openly branched shrub with numerous axillary spines. Some specimens from the Cockleshell Gully–Mt Lesueur area are characterised by branchlets conspicuously pubescent-villous, pinnules 5–8 pairs and 3–5 mm long, and bracteoles long-acuminate (e.g. E.A.Griffin 2039). Many specimens from N of Geraldton are atypical in having flat or slightly recurved pinnules (e.g. R.Coveny 3074, AD n.v., BRI n.v., CANB n.v., MEL n.v., NSW, PERTH); this variant probably warrants formal status, fide B.R.Maslin, Nuytsia 1: 411 (1975).

FOA Reference

Data derived from Flora of Australia Volumes 11A (2001), 11B (2001) and 12 (1998), products of ABRS, ©Commonwealth of Australia

Author

Minor edits by B.R.Maslin & J.Reid

B.R.Maslin