Acacia wanyu

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 wanyu
Name

Acacia wanyu Tindale, 1972
Synonyms

Racosperma wanyu (Tindale) Pedley

Distribution
Native distribution areas:
Acacia wanyu

Continental: Australasia
Regional: Australia
Western Australia

References: Brummitt, R.K. 2001. TDWG – World Geographical Scheme for Recording Plant Distributions, 2nd Edition
References
Primary references

Tindale, M.D., 1972. Contributions from the New South Wales National Herbarium 4(5): 270.

Links

Govaerts, R. et al. 2020. Acacia wanyu in Kew Science Plants of the World online. The Board of Trustees of the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew. Published online. Accessed: 2020 Aug 18. Reference page.
International Plant Names Index. 2019. Acacia wanyu. Published online. Accessed: Aug 18 2019.
Tropicos.org 2019. Acacia wanyu. Missouri Botanical Garden. Published online. Accessed: 18 Aug 2019.
Catalogue of Life: 2021 Annual Checklist
Acacia wanyu – Taxon details on World Wide Wattle.

Vernacular names
English: Silver-leaf Mulga, Wanyu

Acacia wanyu, commonly known as wanyu or silver-leaf mulga,[3] is a shrub or tree belonging to the genus Acacia and the subgenus Juliflorae that is endemic to arid parts of western Australia. The Kurrama people know it as Murruturu or Yirritiri while the Nyangumarta people know it as Wayartany.[3]

Description

The bushy tree or shrub typically grows to a height of 1.5 to 5 metres (5 to 16 ft).[1] Younger shrubs tend to be multi-stemmed with the mai stems being reasonably straight and have a rounded or obconic habit with sub-rounded crowns. More mature plants often have a gnarled and crooked single-stem with horizontal branches and dense crowns spreading to a width of 2 to 5 mm (0.079 to 0.197 in). The smooth grey bark found on the branches becomes fissured near the base of older stems. The sericeous branchlets are covered in fine silvery white hairs but become glabrous as they age. The pale yellowish green new shoots have a silvery sheen. Like most species of Acacia it has light silvery green or grey-green to bluish green phyllodes rather than true leaves. The slender and terete filiform phyllodes have a length of 5 to 18 cm (2.0 to 7.1 in) and a diameter of 0.8 to 1.3 mm (0.031 to 0.051 in) and are thin and flexible and straight to incurved. They have many fine and parallel longitudinal nerves and an acute apex acute that is not spiny.[3] It blooms from March to July producing yellow flowers.[1] Flowering is thought to be dependent after periods of high rainfall with flowers having been intermittently recorded from February to October. The simple inflorescences occur singly or in pairs in the axils on 3 to 6 mm (0.12 to 0.24 in) long stalks. The flower-spikes have a length of 10 to 30 mm (0.39 to 1.18 in) with light golden flowers that are lightly packed. Following flowering woody seed pods form that are pendulous with an ąmoniliform shape and a length of 6 to 18 cm (2.4 to 7.1 in) and a diameter of 6 to 10 mm (0.24 to 0.39 in)that age to a brown to yellowish colour. The brown seeds inside have a broadly ellipsoid shape and a length of 6 to 9 mm (0.24 to 0.35 in).[3]
Taxonomy

The species was first formally described by the botanist Mary Tindale in 1972 as part of the work Notes on Australian taxa of Acacia published in Contributions from the New South Wales National Herbarium. It was reclassified as Racosperma wanyu in 2003 by Leslie Pedley than transferred back to genus Acacia in 2006.[4] The specific epithet refers to the common name of the species which is also sometimes misapplied to Acacia ramulosa.[3]
Distribution

It is native to an area in the Mid West and Pilbara regions of Western Australia where it is often situated on sand plains or along creeklines and drainage lines where it is found growing in stony clay or loamy or red sandy soils.[1] The species has a scattered distribution with the bulk of the population being found from around Pannawonica in the north west to around Pingandie Station in the Asburton district in the south and out to the Great Sandy Desert in the east with several outlying populations further south. It is commonly a part of low scrub and taller shrubland communities featuring Acacia aneura and other Acacia species.[3]
See also

List of Acacia species

References

"Acacia wanyu". FloraBase. Western Australian Government Department of Biodiversity, Conservation and Attractions.
Tindale, M.D. in Anderson, R.H. (ed.) (1972) Notes on Australian taxa of Acacia No. 3. Contributions from the New South Wales National Herbarium 4(5): 270
"Acacia wanyu". Wattles of the Pilbara. Department of Environment and Conservation. 2010. Retrieved 22 March 2020.
"Acacia wanyu Tindale". Atlas of Living Australia. Global Biodiversity Information Facility. Retrieved 22 March 2020.