Acacia alata
Template:Short description Template:Speciesbox
Acacia alata, commonly known as winged wattle,[1] is a species of flowering plant in the family Fabaceae and is endemic to the south-west of Western Australia. It is a much-branched shrub, its phyllodes continuous with the branches and arranged on either side of them, flowers arranged in racemes of 2 spherical heads of white to golden-yellow flowers, and flat, curved, crusty pods Template:Cvt long.
Description
Acacia alata is a much-branched shrub, typically growing to a height of Template:Cvt with zig-zag branches. The phyllodes are continuous with the braches and are arranged on either side of them, Template:Cvt wide, but narrowest in the flower-bearing regions. The free ends of the phyllodes are Template:Cvt long, sometimes with a spiny tip. There are 1 to 3 prominent glands on a triangular spur. There are 1 or 2 spherical heads of flowers in axils on a peduncle Template:Cvt long, the heads with 4 to 15 white to golden-coloured flowers. Flowering time varies with variety, and the fruit is a flat, curved pod, Template:Cvt long and Template:Cvt wide, crust-like and densely hairy containing oblong to elliptic seeds Template:Cvt long with an aril on the end.[2][3]
Taxonomy
Acacia alata was first formally described by Robert Brown in William Aiton's Hortus Kewensis.[4][5] The specific epithet (alata) means "winged".[6]
The names of four varieties of A. alata are accepted by the Australian Plant Census:
- Acacia alata R.Br. var. alata[7] is a shrub Template:Cvt high with spiny stipules, the free portion of phyllodes Template:Cvt long, and heads containing 6 to 10 flowers from May to December.[8][9]
- Acacia alata var. biglandulosa Benth.[10] is a shrub Template:Cvt high, the free portion of phyllodes Template:Cvt long, and heads containing 4 to 7 flowers mainly from June to September.[11]
- Acacia alata var. platyptera (Lindl.) Meisn.[12] is a shrub Template:Cvt high with innocuous stipules, the free portion of phyllodes Template:Cvt long, and heads containing 12 to 15 flowers from June to August.[13]
- Acacia alata var. tetrantha Maslin[14] is a shrub Template:Cvt high, the free portion of phyllodes Template:Cvt long, and heads containing 4 flowers from April to July.[15]
Distribution and habitat
Acacia alata grows in a variety of soils near water, rocky hills, breakaways, slat pans and clay flats between Port Gregory and Albany in the Avon Wheatbelt, Geraldton Sandplains, Jarrah Forest, Swan Coastal Plain and Warren bioregions of south-western Western Australia.[2][1]
Variety alata often grows near creeks in forest and woodland and has a discontinous distribution, between Perth, Collie, Cape Naturaliste and Manjimup, between Denmark and Albany, with an outlier near Three Springs.[8][9]
Variety biglandulosa grows in loam and sand, usually in heath, between Port Gregory and Mount Michael about Template:Cvt south-east of Geraldton.[11][16]
Variety platyptera grows in clay, loam or gravel in gullies, hills and flats near Mogumber,[13][17] and var. tetrantha usually grows near watercourses in low, open forest and woodland between Eneabba and Cervantes with a disjunct population at Yanchep.[15][18]
Conservation status
Acacia alata and three of its varieties are list as "not threatened" by the Government of Western Australia Department of Biodiversity, Conservation and Attractions,[1][9][16][18] but var. platyptera is listed as "Priority Four"[17] meaning that it is rare or near threatened.[19]
Use in horticulture
This plant tolerates frosts to Script error: No such module "convert"..[20]
References
<templatestyles src="Reflist/styles.css" />
- ↑ a b c Script error: No such module "citation/CS1".Script error: No such module "EditAtWikidata".Template:WikidataCheck
- ↑ a b Script error: No such module "citation/CS1".
- ↑ Script error: No such module "citation/CS1".
- ↑ Script error: No such module "citation/CS1".
- ↑ Script error: No such module "citation/CS1".
- ↑ Script error: No such module "citation/CS1".
- ↑ Script error: No such module "citation/CS1".
- ↑ a b Script error: No such module "citation/CS1".
- ↑ a b c Script error: No such module "citation/CS1".Script error: No such module "EditAtWikidata".Template:WikidataCheck
- ↑ Script error: No such module "citation/CS1".
- ↑ a b Script error: No such module "citation/CS1".
- ↑ Script error: No such module "citation/CS1".
- ↑ a b Script error: No such module "citation/CS1".
- ↑ Script error: No such module "citation/CS1".
- ↑ a b Script error: No such module "citation/CS1".
- ↑ a b Script error: No such module "citation/CS1".Script error: No such module "EditAtWikidata".Template:WikidataCheck
- ↑ a b Script error: No such module "citation/CS1".Script error: No such module "EditAtWikidata".Template:WikidataCheck
- ↑ a b Script error: No such module "citation/CS1".Script error: No such module "EditAtWikidata".Template:WikidataCheck
- ↑ Script error: No such module "citation/CS1".
- ↑ Script error: No such module "citation/CS1".
Script error: No such module "Check for unknown parameters".