Acacia tree
Scientific Name :
Acacia auriculiformis Cunn. ex Benth.
Synonym(s) :
Racosperma auriculiforme (Benth.) Pedley
Local/Common name(s) :
Acacia tree, Darwin black wattle
Family :
Fabaceae
Habit :
Tree
Flowering/Fruiting Time :
Throughout the year
Habitat :
Grown as avenue tree, also raised in plantations
Endemic :
Status (IUCN) :
Least concern (LC)
Distribution :
Nativity :
Exotic
Uses :
Description (Morphology) :
Trees, to 15 m high, bark brown, smooth; branchlets terete, glabrous. Phyllodes alternate; stipules lateral; petiole 8-20 mm long, pulvinate, slender, glabrous; lamina 7-20 x 1-5 cm, linear, falcate or falcate-elliptic-falcate, base attenuate, apex subacute or obtuse, margin entire, glabrous, coriaceous; 3-6 parallel ribs from the base, palmate, prominent, intercostae reticulate. Flowers bisexual, yellow, 2.5 mm, in axillary spikes, to 4-8 cm long; calyx 0.5-1 x 0.8-1 mm, campanulate; lobes 5; corolla ca. 2 mm long; lobes 5, 1.5-1.8 mm, lobes lanceolate; stamens many, 3-4 mm long; ovary superior, subsessile, glabrous; styles 3-4 mm long. Fruit a pod, 3-10 x 0.5-1 cm, flat, glabrous, woody and much twisted in irregular coils; seeds black, 0.6 x 0.5 cm, with orange-yellow coloured aril.