Gile's wattle facts for kids
Quick facts for kids Gile's wattle |
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| Scientific classification | |
| Genus: |
Acacia
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| Species: |
gilesiana
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| Occurrence data from AVH | |
Acacia gilesiana, commonly known as Gile's wattle, is a shrub of the genus Acacia and the subgenus Plurinerves that is endemic to arid parts of southern Australia.
Description
The erect spreading shrub typically grows to a height of 1.5 to 3 metres (5 to 10 ft) and has terete and glabrous slightly ribbed branchlets. Like most species of Acacia it has phyllodes rather than true leaves. The thick, pungent and rigid grey-green phyllodes are ascending to erect and straight to slightly curved with a length of 5 to 24 cm (2.0 to 9.4 in) and a diameter of 1.5 to 1.8 mm (0.059 to 0.071 in) and have eight immersed yellowish nerves. It blooms from July to August and produces yellow flowers.
Taxonomy
The specific epithet, gilesiana, honours William Ernest Powell Giles (explorer and botanical collector).
Distribution
It is native to an area in the Goldfields-Esperance region of Western Australia, and in South Australia in the Nullarbor region near Maralinga and the north-western region. It is often situated on sand dunes or sandplains growing in red sandy soils. The range of the species extends from the Gibson Desert in the north west and the Great Victoria Desert in the south west from around Neale Junction extending eastward to Maralinga in South Australia where it is found as a part of low open woodland and tall shrubland communities often in association with mulga and spinifex.
