''Acacia cardiophylla'', commonly known as Wyalong wattle, West Wyalong wattle or heart-leaf wattle, 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 ...

New South Wales New South Wales (commonly abbreviated as NSW) is a States and territories of Australia, state on the Eastern states of Australia, east coast of :Australia. It borders Queensland to the north, Victoria (state), Victoria to the south, and South ...

, Australia. It is a shrub or tree with smooth grey or mottled brown bark, slightly leathery

bipinnate The following terms are used to describe leaf morphology in the description and taxonomy of plants. Leaves may be simple (that is, the leaf blade or 'lamina' is undivided) or compound (that is, the leaf blade is divided into two or more leaflets ...

leaves, spherical heads of bright yellow flowers, and straight to slightly curved, thinly leathery pods covered with silvery hairs.

Description

''Acacia cardiophylla'' is an erect shrub to small tree that typically grows to a height of , is often multi-stemmed and has smooth dark grey of mottled brown bark. The leaves are bipinnate with mostly 8 to 19 pairs of pinnae on a

rachis In biology, a rachis (from the [], "backbone, spine") is a main axis or "shaft". In zoology and microbiology In vertebrates, ''rachis'' can refer to the series of articulated vertebrae, which encase the spinal cord. In this case the ''rachi ...

long, the leaflets further divided with 4 to 12 pairs of narrowly egg-shaped to more or less circular

pinnules A leaflet (occasionally called foliole) in botany is a leaf-like part of a compound leaf. Though it resembles an entire leaf, a leaflet is not borne on a main plant stem or branch, as a leaf is, but rather on a petiole or a branch of the leaf. Co ...

. There are

glands A gland is a Cell (biology), cell or an Organ (biology), organ in an animal's body that produces and secretes different substances that the organism needs, either into the bloodstream or into a body cavity or outer surface. A gland may also funct ...

at the base of the lowest pinnae but otherwise absent. The flowers are borne in 6 to 21 spherical heads in axils in zig-zagged

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 long on a peduncle long. Each head is in diameter and contains 20 to 40 bright yellow flowers. Flowering occurs from August to November, and the pods are straight to slightly curved and more or less flat, long, wide, thinly leathery and covered with silvery hairs.

Taxonomy

''Acacia cardiophylla'' was first formally described in 1842 by

George Bentham George Bentham (22 September 1800 – 10 September 1884) was an English botanist, described by the weed botanist Duane Isely as "the premier systematic botanist of the nineteenth century". Born into a distinguished family, he initially studie ...

in Hooker's ''London Journal of Botany'' from an unpublished description by Allan Cunningham of specimens he collected in the "interior of N.S. Wales, north of the Macquarrie River". 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 ...

(''cardiophylla'') means 'heart-leaved'.

Distribution and habitat

''Acacia cardiophylla'' is indigenous to central and southern

and is found from

Gilgandra Gilgandra is a country town in the Orana region of New South Wales, Australia, and services the surrounding agricultural area where wheat is grown extensively together with other cereal crops, and sheep and beef cattle are raised. The town i ...

in the north down to around

Wagga Wagga Wagga Wagga (; informally called Wagga) is a major regional city in the Riverina region of New South Wales, Australia. Straddling the Murrumbidgee River, with an urban population of more than 57,003 as of 2021, it is an important agricultural, m ...

in the south and extending to the

Lake Cargelligo Lake Cargelligo () is a town in the Central West region of New South Wales, Australia, on Lake Cargelligo. It is in Lachlan Shire. Its name is said to be a corruption of the Aboriginal word ''kartjellakoo'' meaning 'he had a coolamon'. Alterna ...

area in the west. It is found on stony hills and ridges in shallow rocky sandy soils in ''

Eucalyptus ''Eucalyptus'' () is a genus of more than 700 species of flowering plants in the family Myrtaceae. Most species of ''Eucalyptus'' are trees, often Mallee (habit), mallees, and a few are shrubs. Along with several other genera in the tribe Eucalyp ...

'' woodland and mallee communities. It is

naturalized Naturalization (or naturalisation) is the legal act or process by which a non-national of a country acquires the nationality of that country after birth. The definition of naturalization by the International Organization for Migration of the ...

in other parts of New South Wales, the

Australian Capital Territory The Australian Capital Territory (ACT), known as the Federal Capital Territory until 1938, is an internal States and territories of Australia, territory of Australia. Canberra, the capital city of Australia, is situated within the territory, an ...

and the

Adelaide Hills The Adelaide Hills region is located in the southern Mount Lofty Ranges east of the city of Adelaide in the state of South Australia. The largest town in the area, Mount Barker, South Australia, Mount Barker, is one of Australia's fastest-growi ...

South Australia South Australia (commonly abbreviated as SA) is a States and territories of Australia, state in the southern central part of Australia. With a total land area of , it is the fourth-largest of Australia's states and territories by area, which in ...

References

{{Taxonbar, from=Q4670886 cardiophylla Flora of New South Wales Fabales of Australia Taxa named by George Bentham Plants described in 1842

Description

Taxonomy

Distribution and habitat

See also

References