Acacia beauverdiana

Acacia beauverdiana, commonly known as pukkati, is a species of flowering plant in the family Fabaceae and is endemic to inland areas of south-western Western Australia. It is a rounded shrub or tree with upright to erect linear to narrowly oblong phyllodes, golden-yellow flowers arranged in oblong to spherical heads, usually arranged singly or in pairs in leaf axils, and linear, leathery pods up to Template:Cvt long.

Description

Acacia beauverdiana is a rounded shrub Template:Cvt high, rarely a tree Template:Cvt high, with upright to erect, linear to narrowly oblong phyllodes Template:Cvt long and Template:Cvt wide. There are many fine, parallel veins on the surface of the phyllodes and the tip is pointed, curved or hooked. There are one or two oblong to spherical heads in axils on a peduncle Template:Cvt long, the heads Template:Cvt long and Template:Cvt wide with 28 to 36 golden-yellow flowers. Flowering occurs from July to October, and the pods are leathery, linear, up to Template:Cvt long and Template:Cvt wide, containing narrowly oblong seeds Template:Cvt long with a long, cone-shaped aril.

Taxonomy

Acacia beauverdiana was first formally described in 1916 by Alfred James Ewart and Percy J. Sharman in the Proceedings of the Royal Society of Victoria from specimens collected by Max Koch near Cowcowing in 1904. The specific epithet (beauverdiana) honours the Swiss botanist, Gustave Beauverd.

Aboriginal uses

The Noongar people of southwest Western Australia burned the top small branches of pukkati and mixed the ash with equal parts of pituri (Duboisia hopwoodii) to relieve intense pains such as toothache.