Acacia adsurgens facts for kids
Quick facts for kids Acacia adsurgens |
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| Scientific classification | |
| Genus: |
Acacia
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| Species: |
adsurgens
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| Occurrence data from Australasian Virtual Herbarium | |
Acacia adsurgens is a type of shrub that belongs to the Acacia family. It's found naturally in the northern parts of Australia. This plant is part of a group of wattles known as Juliflorae.
Contents
What is Acacia adsurgens Like?
This shrub usually grows straight up and is quite bushy. It can reach a height of about 1.5 to 4 metres (5 to 13 ft). That's like one to two basketball hoops stacked up! Its branches are light brown or reddish and become flatter near the ends. The bark is smooth and grey-brown, but it's reddish underneath.
The leaves of Acacia adsurgens are actually flattened leaf stems called phyllodes. They are long, flat, and green, either straight or slightly curved upwards. They measure about 6 to 20 cm (2.4 to 7.9 in) long and 2 to 4.5 mm (0.079 to 0.177 in) wide.
This plant produces yellow flowers. It flowers from February or March all the way to July, and sometimes even as late as September. The flower spikes are about 0.8 to 2.5 cm (0.31 to 0.98 in) long and have many flowers packed closely together.
After the flowers, long, light brown seed pods form. These pods are raised over the seeds and squeezed in between them. The pods are about 3.5 to 12 cm (1.4 to 4.7 in) long and 2 to 3.5 mm (0.079 to 0.138 in) wide. Inside, the dark brown seeds are shaped like narrow oblongs and are about 3.5 to 4.5 mm (0.14 to 0.18 in) long.
How Was Acacia adsurgens Named?
The plant was first officially described by two botanists, Joseph Maiden and William Blakely, in 1927. They wrote about it in a scientific paper called Descriptions of fifty new species and six varieties of western and northern Australian Acacias, and notes on four other species. This paper was published in the Journal of the Royal Society of Western Australia.
For a short time in 1987, it was given a different scientific name, Racosperma adsurgens. But in 2001, it was moved back to the Acacia group, which is where it belongs today.
Where Does Acacia adsurgens Grow?
Acacia adsurgens is an endemic plant, meaning it only grows naturally in certain parts of Australia. You can find it in the northern areas of Western Australia, the central parts of the Northern Territory, and some areas of central Queensland. It also grows in the far northeast of South Australia, near Lake Eyre.
Its range stretches from around Roebourne in the west, all the way through central Queensland in the east. It likes to grow on flat plains and hillsides. You'll often find it in reddish sandy, loamy, and gravelly soils. It usually grows as part of spinifex grassland communities, which are areas with tough, spiky grasses.
See Also
- List of Acacia species
