Acacia jamesiana facts for kids
Quick facts for kids Acacia jamesiana |
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| Scientific classification | |
| Genus: |
Acacia
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| Species: |
jamesiana
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| Occurrence data from AVH | |
Acacia jamesiana is a special type of tree or shrub. It belongs to the large group of plants called Acacias. This plant is found only in the central parts of Western Australia. When a plant or animal is found only in one specific place, it's called endemic.
What Does Acacia jamesiana Look Like?
This tree or shrub usually grows between 1.5 and 6 meters (about 5 to 20 feet) tall. Its young branches are covered in fine, silvery hairs. New shoots can be a bit sticky, like they have resin on them.
Like most Acacia species, it doesn't have true leaves. Instead, it has special leaf-like parts called phyllodes. These phyllodes are always green. They grow upwards and are often shaped like a long, thin rectangle with four sides. They are stiff and have a sharp point at the end. Each phyllode can be 8 to 22 centimeters (about 3 to 8.5 inches) long. They are very narrow, only 1 to 1.5 millimeters wide.
This plant blooms from May to November. It produces bright yellow flowers. The flowers grow in simple groups, one at a time, where the phyllodes meet the stem. These flower-heads are shaped like a short cylinder or an oval. They are 9 to 12 millimeters (about 0.35 to 0.47 inches) long and 6 to 8 millimeters wide. They are packed tightly with golden flowers.
After the flowers bloom, seed pods start to form. These pods are tough, like cartilage or wood. They are long and straight, up to 12 centimeters (about 4.7 inches) long and 4 millimeters wide. They have fine ridges running along them. Inside the pods, the seeds are dark brown and shiny. They are arranged lengthwise and are oval-shaped, about 5 to 5.5 millimeters long.
Where Does Acacia jamesiana Grow?
Acacia jamesiana is native to several regions in Western Australia. These include the Mid West, Wheatbelt, and Goldfields areas.
It is found in many different spots, but most of these plants grow in a specific area. This main area stretches from around Yalgoo in the west. It goes northeast to the Carnarvon Range and east to around Leinster. Some smaller groups of these plants are also found far away in the Gibson and Great Victoria Deserts.
You can often find Acacia jamesiana growing on sand dunes and flat plains. It can grow in many different types of soil. It usually grows as part of tall, open shrubland communities. It is often found together with a type of spiky grass called spinifex.
