''Acacia loderi'', known colloquially as nelia or nealie, is a species of ''

Acacia ''Acacia'', commonly known as the wattles or acacias, is a large genus of shrubs and trees in the subfamily Mimosoideae of the pea family Fabaceae. Initially, it comprised a group of plant species native to Africa and Australasia. The genus n ...

'' native to Australia.

Joseph Maiden Joseph Henry Maiden (25 April 1859 – 16 November 1925) was a botanist who made a major contribution to knowledge of the Australian flora, especially the genus ''Eucalyptus''. This botanist is denoted by the author abbreviation when citing ...

described ''Acacia loderi'' in 1920 and it still bears its original name. It was named after its collector, assistant forester at Broken Hill A.C. Loder who collected it at Yancowinnia near Broken Hill in November 1907. The common name ''nelia'' and its former variants ''nealie'' and ''neelya'' are derived from the

Ngiyambaa The Ngiyambaa language, also spelt Ngiyampaa, Ngempa, Ngemba and other variants, is a Pama–Nyungan language of the Wiradhuric subgroup. It was the traditional language of the Wangaibon and Weilwan peoples of New South Wales, Australia, b ...

word ' for the species. ''Acacia loderi'' grows as a large shrub or small tree high, with an erect or spreading habit. The bark is grey. Like all wattles it has leaf-like structures known as phyllodes instead of leaves. These are pale grey-green to green and very narrow and long, measuring in length by wide. The bright yellow flowers appear in spring (August to October). ''Acacia loderi'' is found in inland southeastern Australia, mainly in far western New South Wales, from White Cliffs in the north of the tip of northwestern Victoria in the south, east to Hillston and west through the Darling River basin and Broken Hill into eastern South Australia, growing in colonized brown or red soils in mostly flat country. It forms a dominant component of ''Acacia loderi'' shrubland, where it is found with such trees as black oak (''

Casuarina pauper ''Casuarina pauper'' is a tree from the family Casuarinaceae, native to a band across the drier, inland areas of southern Australia (). ''C. pauper'' is known as a poorer, stunted form of the closely related '' Casuarina cristata'' (). Common n ...

''), inland rosewood ('' Alectryon oleifolius'') and leopardwood ('' Flindersia maculosa''), and an

understory In forestry and ecology, understory (American English), or understorey (Commonwealth English The use of the English language in current and former member countries of the Commonwealth of Nations was largely inherited from British co ...

chenopod Amaranthaceae is a family of flowering plants commonly known as the amaranth family, in reference to its type genus ''Amaranthus''. It includes the former goosefoot family Chenopodiaceae and contains about 165 genera and 2,040 species, making it ...

s and grasses. ''Acacia loderi'' shrubland has been classified as an Endangered Ecological Community by the New South Wales Government. Key threats include clearing and excessive grazing by livestock. The

Wiradjuri The Wiradjuri people (; ) are a group of Aboriginal Australian people from central New South Wales, united by common descent through kinship and shared traditions. They survived as skilled hunter-fisher-gatherers, in family groups or clans, a ...

people of

New South Wales ) , nickname = , image_map = New South Wales in Australia.svg , map_caption = Location of New South Wales in AustraliaCoordinates: , subdivision_type = Country , subdivision_name = Australia , established_title = Before federation , es ...

use the seeds of the species to make flour for bread, the fibrous bark for making string and rope, and the resin is eaten and can be used to make glue.

References

{{Taxonbar, from=Q4670954 loderi Fabales of Australia Plants described in 1920 Flora of New South Wales Flora of South Australia Flora of Victoria (Australia)