Famine wattle facts for kids

Acacia infecunda, also known as famine wattle, is a shrub belonging to the genus Acacia and the subgenus Phyllodineae that is native to parts of south eastern Australia.

Description

The shrub typically grows to a height of 0.3 to 0.5 m (1 ft 0 in to 1 ft 8 in) and as much as 1.2 m (3 ft 11 in). It readily suckers and has glabrous branchlets. It has linear grey-green phyllodes that are 12 to 25 mm (0.47 to 0.98 in) long and 1 to 1.5 mm (0.039 to 0.059 in) in width. The thin and glabrous phyllodes are straight and flat and have a non-prominent midrib and absent lateral nerves. It blooms between August and October producing simple inflorescences that occur in groups of five to ten on racemes with a length of 1 to 3 cm (0.39 to 1.18 in). The spherical flower-heads have a diameter of 3 to 5 mm (0.12 to 0.20 in) and contain five to nine golden coloured flowers.

Taxonomy

The species was first formally described by the botanists Bill Molyneux & S. G. Forrester in 2008 as part of the work "Three new Acacia species (Fabaceae: Mimosoideae) from East Gippsland, Victoria" as published in the journal Muelleria. It is closely related to Acacia boormanii which is much taller.

Distribution

The shrub has a limited distribution in north-western Victoria to the south of Wulgulmerang around Splitters Creek on elevated rocky areas in dry open forest communities growing in rocky shallow soils. Only a single small population of fragmented stands growing in a limited area is known on the Wombargo Range in the headwaters of the Little River which is a tributary of the Snowy River.