''Acacia elata'', the cedar wattle or mountain cedar wattle, is a tree found in eastern

Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country comprising mainland Australia, the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania and list of islands of Australia, numerous smaller isl ...

Description

The tree can grow to a height of when mature, with exceptional specimens reaching over . It has deeply fissured bark with a dark brown to black colour at the base of the tree, and

terete Terete is a term in botany used to describe a cross section (geometry), cross section that is circular, or like a distorted circle, with a single surface wrapping around it.Lichen Vocabulary, Lichens of North America Information, Sylvia and S ...

branchlets that are hairy when young. The dark green evergreen leaves typically have a length of with one prominent gland about halfway along. There are usually three to seven pairs of

pinnae Pinna may refer to: Biology * Pinna (anatomy), or auricle, the outer part of the ear * ''Pinna'' (bivalve), a genus of molluscs * Pinna (botany), a primary segment of a compound leaf People Surname * Christophe Pinna (born 1968), French marti ...

with a length of with 8 to 22 pairs of discolourous

pinnule 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. C ...

s that have a lanceolate shape and a length of . The tree blooms from December to February, producing

inflorescence In botany, an inflorescence is a group or cluster of flowers arranged on a plant's Plant stem, stem that is composed of a main branch or a system of branches. An inflorescence is categorized on the basis of the arrangement of flowers on a mai ...

s in panicles or

racemes A raceme () or racemoid is an unbranched, 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 produced as the shoo ...

with spherical flower-heads that have a diameter of and contain 30 to 55 pale yellow to cream-coloured flowers. The straight, flat

seed pod This page provides a glossary of plant morphology. Botanists and other biologists who study plant morphology use a number of different terms to classify and identify plant organs and parts that can be observed using no more than a handheld magnify ...

s that form after flowering have a length of and a width of that are firmly papery to leathery.

Taxonomy

The species was first formally described in 1842 by the botanist

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 ...

as part of

William Jackson Hooker Sir William Jackson Hooker (6 July 178512 August 1865) was an English botany, botanist and botanical illustrator, who became the first director of Kew Gardens, Kew when in 1841 it was recommended to be placed under state ownership as a botan ...

's work ''Notes on Mimoseae, with a synopsis of species'', published in the ''London Journal of Botany''. It was reclassified as ''Racosperma elatum'' by

Leslie Pedley Leslie Pedley (19 May 1930 – 27 November 2018)IPNILeslie Pedley/ref> was an Australian botanist who specialised in the genus ''Acacia''. He is notable for bringing into use the generic name ''Racosperma'', creating a split in the genus, which r ...

in 1987, but returned to genus ''Acacia'' in 2006. It is sometimes confused with ''

Acacia terminalis ''Acacia terminalis'' (sunshine wattle) is a shrub or small tree to 6 m in height. It is an Australian native whose range extends through New South Wales, Victoria and Tasmania. Common names are cedar wattle (also used of '' Acacia elata''), e ...

''. 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 ...

refers to the plant's tall, tree-like habit.

Distribution

The species 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 coastal areas of

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 ...

. Its native range extends from the

Budawang Range The Budawang Range, commonly called The Budawangs, a rugged mountain range within the Budawang National Park and the Morton National Park, are part of a spur off the Great Dividing Range and are located in the South Coast region of New South ...

in the south as afar as the

Bellinger River Bellinger River, an open and Breakwater (structure), trained mature wind wave, wave dominated, estuary#Lagoon-type or bar-built, barrier estuary, is located in the Mid North Coast region of New South Wales, Australia. Course and features Belli ...

in the north. The habitat is near

rainforest Rainforests are forests characterized by a closed and continuous tree Canopy (biology), canopy, moisture-dependent vegetation, the presence of epiphytes and lianas and the absence of wildfire. Rainforests can be generally classified as tropi ...

and wet

sclerophyll Sclerophyll is a type of vegetation that is adapted to long periods of dryness and heat. The plants feature hard leaves, short Internode (botany), internodes (the distance between leaves along the stem) and leaf orientation which is parallel or ...

forest in various situations. An attractive plant with delicate foliage, it is sometimes seen in cultivation. Its timber is attractive, close-grained, strong and hard, and is suitable for carpentry and turning. It sometimes escapes from gardens and is considered as a weed in the wetter

Warren Warren most commonly refers to: * Warren (burrow), a network dug by rabbits * Warren (name), a given name and a surname, including lists of persons so named Warren may also refer to: Places Australia * Warren (biogeographic region) * War ...

and

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.

regions in the

South West Southwest is a compass point. Southwest, south-west, south west, southwestern or south-western or south western may also refer to: * Southwest (direction), an intercardinal direction Geography *South West Queensland, Australia *South West (Weste ...

of Western Australia, where it grows in loamy

lateritic Laterite is a soil type rich in iron and aluminium and is commonly considered to have formed in hot and wet tropical areas. Nearly all laterites are of rusty-red coloration, because of high iron oxide content. They develop by intensive and prolo ...

soils. It has also become naturalised in other parts of Australia, including

Queensland Queensland ( , commonly abbreviated as Qld) is a States and territories of Australia, state in northeastern Australia, and is the second-largest and third-most populous state in Australia. It is bordered by the Northern Territory, South Austr ...

and parts of

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 ...

Description

Taxonomy

Distribution

See also

References

Further reading