Echidna wattle facts for kids
Quick facts for kids Echidna wattle |
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|---|---|
| Conservation status | |
| Scientific classification | |
| Genus: |
Acacia
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| Species: |
depressa
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| Occurrence data from AVH | |
Acacia depressa, also commonly known as echidna wattle, is a shrub of the genus Acacia and the subgenus Pulchellae that is endemic to south western Australia. It was listed as vulnerable according the Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation Act 1999 in 2007.
Description
The dense prostrate spreading shrub typically grows to a height of 0.05 to 0.15 metres (0.2 to 0.5 ft) and tends to form mats that can over 0.5 m (1 ft 8 in) in width with hairy and spiny branchlets. The milky green to grey-green, bipinnate and glabrous leaves have one pair of pinnae that are 2 to 4 mm (0.079 to 0.157 in) in length and have three to four pairs if pinnules which have narrowly oblong to oblong-oblanceolate shape and are 2 to 3 mm (0.079 to 0.118 in) in length and about 1 mm (0.039 in) wide. It blooms from December to January and produces yellow flowers. It forms simple inflorescences that occur singly in the axils and have spherical flower-heads that contain 12 to 15 light golden coloured flowers. Following flowering firmly chartaceous seed pods form that have a narrowly oblong shape with a length of 1 to 2 cm (0.39 to 0.79 in) and a width of around 3 mm (0.12 in) and have a somewhat thickened margin.
Distribution
It is native to an area in the Wheatbelt region of Western Australia where it is commonly situated on low rocky hills and rises where it grows in gravelly lateritic soils. It has a limited distribution around Lake Grace as a part of low shrubland or open heath communities.
