New England hickory facts for kids

The Acacia nova-anglica, also known as the New England hickory, is a type of shrub. It belongs to the Acacia plant family. This plant is special because it only grows naturally in eastern Australia.

What it Looks Like

This bushy plant usually grows to be about 3 meters (10 feet) tall. It has dark grey bark that can be smooth or have deep cracks. Its younger branches are dark-red, angled, and smooth (meaning they don't have hairs).

Like many Acacia plants, the New England hickory doesn't have true leaves. Instead, it has special flattened stems called phyllodes. These phyllodes are smooth and curved, shaped like a spear tip or a narrow oval. They are usually 5 to 14 centimeters long and 8 to 30 millimeters wide. Each phyllode has a clear vein running down the middle, though it's not always perfectly centered.

The New England hickory flowers from January to March. It produces round flower heads with 15 to 25 whitish to cream-colored flowers. These flower heads grow in groups of 5 to 13 along the branches.

After the flowers bloom, brown seed pods form. These pods are straight and flat, but they often have one to three deep pinches or squeezes. The pods are 5 to 19 centimeters long and 10 to 22 millimeters wide. Inside, the seeds are lined up from end to end.

Where it Grows

The New England hickory naturally grows in the New England Tableland area of New South Wales, Australia. You can find it from Bendemeer in the south, all the way up to the border with Queensland in the north. It is very common in the Gibraltar Range.

This plant often grows among granite rocks or on exposed, rocky hillsides. It likes to live on granite ranges where it is part of medium or low dry sclerophyll forests or open woodlands. It prefers sandy, less fertile soils.