Common Name

Hairy Wattle, Weeping Boree

Family

Fabaceae

Distribution

Occurs in N.S.W. on the western part of the Great Divide from near Dunedoo S to Yass, and further S from Delegate to Bega.

Description

Bushy shrub to 4 m high, sometimes tree to 8 m; branches gracefully pendulous. Branchlets pubescent to villous. Phyllodes inequilaterally ovate-elliptic but often narrowly so, 10–20 mm long, 4–10 mm wide, with a delicate, straight to shallowly incurved, 1–2 mm long mucro, thin, grey-green to ±glaucous, with indumentum as on branchlets but hairs normally shorter and slightly antrorse, 1-nerved per face; lateral nerves indistinct; gland indistinct, 0–1.5 mm above pulvinus. Inflorescences racemose; raceme axes 1.5–6 cm long, hirtellous; peduncles 1.5–4 mm long, hirtellous; heads globular, 12–18-flowered, bright light golden. Flowers 5‑merous; sepals united. Pods narrowly oblong, rounded over seeds, to c.11 cm long, 9–15 mm wide, thinly coriaceous, dark brown but pruinose at least when young, glabrous. Seeds longitudinal, oblong to elliptic, 5.5–7 mm long, slightly shiny, black; aril clavate.

Habitat

Usually grows on rocky hillsides in Eucalyptus woodland or open forest.

Specimens

N.S.W.: 10.4 km NE of Kelso on Limekilns Rd (NE of Bathurst), E.F.Constable 5597 (NSW, PERTH); Warrumba Ra., c. 16 km NE of Grenfell, E.F.Constable 7247 (NSW, PERTH); Bombala District, Nov. 1901, J.H.Maiden s.n. (NSW); 2 km E of Reids Flat at Lachlan R. crossing, on Reids Flat Rd to Bigga, B.R.Maslin 5894 (MEXU, NSW, PERTH); Australia [N.S.W.], F.Sieber 444 (G-DC, K, MO, NSW, OXF).

Notes

A widely cultivated, ornamental species.

Acacia semibinervia appears to be a garden hybrid involving A. pravissima and A. vestita.

A putative hybrid involving A. vestita and A. decora is recorded from ‘Whitewell’, Wellington (G.W.Althofer 144, NSW). It has narrowly elliptic phyllodes 2–3 cm long and 2–4 mm wide but otherwise has the characters of A. vestita.

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.Rogers

B.R.Maslin