''Acacia celastrifolia'', commonly known as glowing wattle or ''Celastrus''-leaved acacia, 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 the

southwest The points of the compass are a set of horizontal, radially arrayed compass directions (or azimuths) used in navigation and cartography. A '' compass rose'' is primarily composed of four cardinal directions—north, east, south, and west— ...

of Western Australia. It is a bushy,

glabrous Glabrousness () is the technical term for a lack of hair, down, setae, trichomes, or other such covering. A glabrous surface may be a natural characteristic of all or part of a plant or animal, or be due to loss because of a physical condition, ...

shrub or tree with finely ribbed branchlets, egg-shaped to lance-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 with the narrower end towards the base, spherical heads of bright light golden flowers, and erect, linear, crust-like to more or less woody pods.

Description

''Acacia celastrifolia'' is a bushy, glabrous shrub or tree that typically grows to a height of and has finely ribbed branchlets, usually covered with a white, powdery bloom. Its phyllodes are egg-shaped to lance-shaped with the narrower end towards the base, or elliptic, long and wide. The phyllodes are leathery with several prominent veins and a prominent

gland 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 ...

above the

pulvinus A pulvinus (pl. ''pulvini'') may refer to a joint-like thickening at the base of a plant leaf or leaflet that facilitates growth-independent movement. Pulvinus is also a botanical term for the persistent peg-like bases of the leaves in the conif ...

. The flowers are borne in 10 to 20 spherical heads in

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, each head with two or three bright, light golden flowers. Flowering occurs from April to August and the pods are erect, linear, more or less straight to slightly curved, up to long and wide and crusty to more or less woody. The seeds are oblong, usually glossy brown, long with an

aril An aril (), also called arillus, is a specialized outgrowth from a seed that partly or completely covers the seed. An arillode, or false aril, is sometimes distinguished: whereas an aril grows from the attachment point of the seed to the ova ...

on the end.

Taxonomy

''Acacia celastrifolia'' 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 specimens collected in the

Swan River Colony The Swan River Colony, also known as the Swan River Settlement, or just ''Swan River'', was a British colony established in 1829 on the Swan River, in Western Australia. This initial settlement place on the Swan River was soon named Perth, an ...

by James Drummond. 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 ...

(''celastrifolia'') means

Celastrus ''Celastrus'', commonly known as staff vine, staff tree or bittersweet, is the type genus of the family Celastraceae; it contains over 40 species of shrubs and vines, which have a wide distribution in East Asia, Australasia, Africa, and the Ame ...

''-leaved'. ''Acacia celastrifolis'' is part of the '' Acacia myrtifolia'' group and is also closely related to '' A. clydonophora''.

Distribution and habitat

Glowing wattle grows in sandy to gravelly lateritic or granitic soils, often in '' Eucalyptus accedens'' woodland and occurs from north of

New Norcia New or NEW may refer to: Music * New, singer of K-pop group The Boyz * ''New'' (album), by Paul McCartney, 2013 ** "New" (Paul McCartney song), 2013 * ''New'' (EP), by Regurgitator, 1995 * "New" (Daya song), 2017 * "New" (No Doubt song), 1 ...

York York is a cathedral city in North Yorkshire, England, with Roman Britain, Roman origins, sited at the confluence of the rivers River Ouse, Yorkshire, Ouse and River Foss, Foss. It has many historic buildings and other structures, such as a Yor ...

and south to Wagin and south of Dinninup in the

Avon Wheatbelt The Avon Wheatbelt is a bioregion in Western Australia. It has an area of . It is considered part of the larger Southwest Australia savanna ecoregion. Geography The Avon Wheatbelt bioregion is mostly a gently undulating landscape with low rel ...

Jarrah Forest Jarrah Forest, also known as the Southwest Australia woodlands, is an interim Australian bioregion and ecoregion located in the south west of Western Australia.

and

Swan Coastal Plain The Swan Coastal Plain in Western Australia is the geographic feature which contains the Swan River as it travels west to the Indian Ocean. The coastal plain continues well beyond the boundaries of the Swan River and its tributaries, as a geol ...

bioregions of south-western

Western Australia Western Australia (WA) is the westernmost state of Australia. It is bounded by the Indian Ocean to the north and west, the Southern Ocean to the south, the Northern Territory to the north-east, and South Australia to the south-east. Western Aust ...

References

{{Taxonbar, from=Q15289757 celastrifolia Acacias of Western Australia Plants described in 1842 Taxa named by George Bentham

Description

Taxonomy

Distribution and habitat

See also

References