''Acacia binervia'' commonly known as the coast myall, coastal myall, coastal wattle, or kai'arrawan in the

Dharawal The Tharawal people and other variants, are an Aboriginal Australian people, identified by the Yuin language. Traditionally, they lived as hunter–fisher–gatherers in family groups or clans with ties of kinship, scattered along the coasta ...

language. is a species of flowering plant in the family

Fabaceae Fabaceae () or Leguminosae,International Code of Nomen ...

and is

endemic Endemism is the state of a species being found only in a single defined geographic location, such as an island, state, nation, country or other defined zone; organisms that are indigenous to a place are not endemic to it if they are also foun ...

to south-eastern continental Australia. It is an erect or spreading tree or shrub, with narrowly elliptic to sickle-shaped

phyllode Phyllodes are modified petiole (botany), petioles or leaf stems, which are leaf-like in appearance and function. In some plants, these become flattened and widened, while the leaf itself becomes reduced or vanishes altogether. Thus the phyllode co ...

s, pale to bright yellow flowers arranged in cylindrical heads in up to five

raceme A raceme () or racemoid is an unbranched, indeterminate growth, indeterminate type of inflorescence bearing flowers having short floral stalks along the shoots that bear the flowers. The oldest flowers grow close to the base and new flowers are ...

s, and straight pods up to long.

Description

''Acacia binervia'' is an erect tree or spreading shrub that typically grows up to high and has flaky and furrowed, dark brown to grey bark. Its phyllodes are narrowly elliptic to sickle-shaped, long, wide, with branchlets flattened or angled at the end, prominently veined and usually covered thickly with whitish grey hairs flattened against the surface. The flowers are pale to bright yellow and borne in rod-shaped heads long in up to five axils in a raceme long. Each head is on a peduncle up to long. Flowering occurs in spring and the fruit is a linear pod, long and wide.

Taxonomy

In 1798, German botanist

Johann Christoph Wendland Johann Christoph Wendland (July 17, 1755 – July 27, 1828) was a German botanist and gardener born in Petit-Landau, Alsace. Family His son, Heinrich Wendland, Heinrich Ludolph Wendland (1791–1869), and his grandson, Hermann Wendland ( ...

first described this species as ''Mimosa binervia'' in his ''Botanische Beobachtungen: nebst einigen neuen Gattungen und Arten''. In 1919

James Francis Macbride James Francis Macbride (19 May 1892 16 June 1976) was an American botanist who devoted most of his professional life to the study of the flora of Peru. Early life and education Born on 19 May 1891 in Rock Valley, Iowa, MacBride graduated from th ...

transferred the species to ''Acacia'' as ''A. binervia'' and the change was published in ''Contributions of the Gray Herbarium of Harvard University''. The

specific epithet In Taxonomy (biology), taxonomy, binomial nomenclature ("two-term naming system"), also called binary nomenclature, is a formal system of naming species of living things by giving each a name composed of two parts, both of which use Latin gramm ...

(''binervia'') refers to the phyllodes having two veins, although there are usually three to five more or less prominent veins.

Distribution and habitat

Coast myall is found in central New South Wales from the

Hunter Region The Hunter Region, also commonly known as the Hunter Valley, Newcastle Region, or simply Hunter, spans the region in northern New South Wales, Australia, extending from approximately to north of Sydney. It contains the Hunter River (New Sout ...

south, and to

Bungonia Bungonia is a small town in the Southern Tablelands in New South Wales, Australia in Goulburn Mulwaree. At the , Bungonia had a population of 367. The name of the town derives from an Aboriginal word meaning 'sandy creek'. History Bungonia wa ...

in the southwest, and continuing south into Victoria. In the Sydney basin, it grows on a variety of soils and associated plant communities—alluvial soils, sandstone-, shale- or trachyte-based soils, generally with good drainage. It grows in dry sclerophyll forest, associated with such species as yellow bloodwood (''

Corymbia eximia ''Corymbia eximia'', commonly known as yellow bloodwood, is a Corymbia, bloodwood native to New South Wales. It occurs around the Sydney Basin often in high rainfall areas on shallow sandstone soils on plateaux or escarpments, in fire prone a ...

''), grey gum (''

Eucalyptus punctata ''Eucalyptus punctata'', commonly known as grey gum, is a small to medium-sized tree that is endemic to eastern Australia. It has smooth grey bark that is shed in patches, lance-shaped, curved or egg-shaped adult leaves flower buds in groups of ...

''), narrow-leaved ironbark ('' E. crebra''), mugga ironbark ('' E. sideroxylon''), or more open woodland with narrow-leaved ironbark and black cypress pine (''

Callitris endlicheri ''Callitris endlicheri'', commonly known as the black cypress pine, is a species of conifer in the family Cupressaceae that is native to eastern Australia. Distribution and habitat ''C. endlicheri'' is widespread in eastern Australia along the ...

''), and riparian (riverbank) forest with river peppermint ('' E. elata'') and gossamer wattle (''

Acacia floribunda ''Acacia floribunda'' is a perennial evergreen shrub or tree. It is a species of wattle native to New South Wales, Queensland and Victoria, but is cultivated extensively, and has naturalised in South Australia, Tasmania and Western Australia, a ...

''). There is a single record from the upper

Snowy River The Snowy River is a major river in south-eastern Australia. It originates on the slopes of Mount Kosciuszko, Australia's highest mainland peak, draining the eastern slopes of the Snowy Mountains in New South Wales, before flowing through the ...

Victoria Victoria most commonly refers to: * Queen Victoria (1819–1901), Queen of the United Kingdom and Empress of India * Victoria (state), a state of Australia * Victoria, British Columbia, Canada, a provincial capital * Victoria, Seychelles, the capi ...

Ecology

''Acacia binervia'' regenerates from bushfire by a soil-borne seedbank, the seeds germinate and grow after fire while adult plants are killed. The plant is reportedly toxic to

livestock Livestock are the Domestication, domesticated animals that are raised in an Agriculture, agricultural setting to provide labour and produce diversified products for consumption such as meat, Egg as food, eggs, milk, fur, leather, and wool. The t ...

as the foliage phyllodes contain

prussic acid Hydrogen cyanide (formerly known as prussic acid) is a chemical compound with the formula HCN and structural formula . It is a highly toxic and flammable liquid that boils slightly above room temperature, at . HCN is produced on an industrial s ...

. The frequency of fire for the cycle to persist is anywhere from 10 to 50 years. Coast myall is useful to bees in the honey industry.

Conservation status

Coast myall is listed as "critically endangered" in Victoria in the

Flora and Fauna Guarantee Act 1988 The ''Flora and Fauna Guarantee Act 1988'', also known as the ''FFG Act'', is an act of the Victorian Parliament designed to protect species, genetic material and habitats, to prevent extinction and allow maximum genetic diversity within the Au ...

Cultural significance

For the Dharawal people, the flowering of ''Acacia binervia'' was used as a seasonal indicator of the presence of fish in bays and estuaries.

References

{{Taxonbar, from=Q2822195 binervia Trees of Australia Fabales of Australia Flora of New South Wales Flora of Victoria (state) Plants described in 1798 Taxa named by Johann Christoph Wendland