Acacia subsessilis

Life-forms

Classification System: APG IV

Superregnum: Eukaryota
Regnum: Plantae
Cladus: Angiosperms
Cladus: Eudicots
Cladus: Core eudicots
Cladus: Rosids
Cladus: Eurosids I
Ordo: Fabales

Familia: Fabaceae
Subfamilia: Caesalpinioideae
Tribus: Acacieae
Genus: Acacia
Species: Acacia subsessilis
Name

Acacia subsessilis A.R.O.Chapm. & Maslin
References

Nuytsia 12(3): 490 (1999).

Acacia subsessilis is a shrub of the genus Acacia and the subgenus Plurinerves that is endemic to an area of western Australia.

Description

The straggly and pungent shrub typically grows to a height of 1 to 2 metres (3 to 7 ft)[1] and can have a rounded or funnel-shaped habit with glabrous and lenticellular branchlets that have raised stem-projections where phyllodes have been lost. Like most species of Acacia it has phyllodes rather than true leaves. The dull green to pale red coloured, rigid, pungent and glabrous phyllodes attach directly to the branchlets and mostly have a flat and narrowly linear shape with a length of 1 to 3 cm (0.39 to 1.18 in) and a width of 0.8 to 1.5 mm (0.031 to 0.059 in) and have eight nerves in total with three per face.[2] It blooms from July to August and produces yellow flowers.[1] The simple inflorescences occur singly in the axils and have shortly cylindrical to obloid shaped flower-heads that are 7 to 15 mm (0.28 to 0.59 in) in length and have a diameter of 4 to 6 mm (0.16 to 0.24 in). Following flowering it produces thinly leathery to crustaceous seed pods that resemble a string of beads and are up to 8 cm (3.1 in) in length with a width of 5 to 6 mm (0.20 to 0.24 in) and contain shiny black seeds with an elliptic and a length of about 4 mm (0.16 in) with a creamy coloured aril.[2]
Taxonomy

It is closely related to Acacia diallaga both of which have phyllodes that change colour from green to a pale reddish hue during drought, it also is superficially similar to Acacia colletioides and Acacia chapmanii.[2]
Distribution

It is native to an area in the Mid West and Wheatbelt regions of Western Australia where it is commonly situated on rocky hills growing in stony gravel or sandy soils over or around ironstone.[1] It has a disjunct distribution over a limited range from around Mount Farmer Station in the west to Yalgoo in the east where it is usually a part of open shrubland communities.[2]
See also

List of Acacia species

References

"Acacia subsessilis". FloraBase. Western Australian Government Department of Biodiversity, Conservation and Attractions.
"Acacia subsessilis A.R.Chapm. & Maslin". Wattle - Acacias of Australia. Lucid Central. Retrieved 14 January 2021.