''Acacia papyrocarpa'', commonly known as western myall, is a

tree In botany, a tree is a perennial plant with an elongated stem, or trunk, usually supporting branches and leaves. In some usages, the definition of a tree may be narrower, e.g., including only woody plants with secondary growth, only ...

in the

family Family (from ) is a Social group, group of people related either by consanguinity (by recognized birth) or Affinity (law), affinity (by marriage or other relationship). It forms the basis for social order. Ideally, families offer predictabili ...

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

native to

arid Aridity is the condition of geographical regions which make up approximately 43% of total global available land area, characterized by low annual precipitation, increased temperatures, and limited water availability.Perez-Aguilar, L. Y., Plata ...

areas of central and western

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

Western myall typically grows as a shrub or an upright tree to a height of but can grow as tall as . It has fissured grey coloured bark and a dense spreading to rounded crown. It has pendulous and hairy branchlets. Like most ''

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

'' species, it has

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 rather than true leaves. These are greyish-green in colour, straight and flat, between in length and wide. The hairy phyllodes are acuminate with a fine curved and innocuous point that is not rigid and have many closely parallel indistinct nerves. It blooms between August and November producing rudimentary

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. The flowers are yellow, and held in spherical clusters that are about in diameter and contain 20 to 25 golden flowers. After flowering thin and flat seed pods form that have a length of about and a width of that are flat with a narrowly oblong shape. The subnitid dark brown seeds inside the pods have a broadly elliptic to ovate shape with a length of .

Taxonomy

The species was first formally described 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 ...

in 1864 as part of the work ''

Flora Australiensis ''Flora Australiensis: a description of the plants of the Australian Territory'', more commonly referred to as ''Flora Australiensis'', and also known by its standard abbreviation ''Fl. Austral.'', is a seven-volume Flora of Australia published b ...

''. It was reclassified as ''Racosperma papyrocarpum'' 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 2003 then transferred back to genus ''Acacia'' in 2006. The only other synonyms are ''Acacia sowdeni'' and ''Acacia sowdenii''.

Distribution

It 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 arid parts of central

, it occurs on

limestone Limestone is a type of carbonate rock, carbonate sedimentary rock which is the main source of the material Lime (material), lime. It is composed mostly of the minerals calcite and aragonite, which are different Polymorphism (materials science) ...

plains in southern Australia from Paynes Find in

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 ...

eastwards into

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 ...

. There is also an anomalous specimen at Cooper Creek in

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 ...

. A weeping form of the species that grows at Roxby Downs, South Australia bears the common name water myall. It is commonly situated on low limestone rises, saline or clay flats where it grows in calcareous sandy loam or clay soils.

References

* {{Taxonbar, from=Q4670981 Flora of South Australia Acacias of Western Australia papyrocarpa Fabales of Australia Taxa named by George Bentham

Description

Taxonomy

Distribution

See also

References