Acacia plautella facts for kids
Quick facts for kids Acacia plautella |
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| Conservation status | |
| Scientific classification | |
| Genus: |
Acacia
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| Species: |
plautella
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| Occurrence data from AVH | |
Acacia plautella is a special kind of shrub. It belongs to a big group of plants called Acacia, which are often known as wattles. This particular acacia is found only in a small part of western Australia. When a plant or animal is found only in one specific place, it's called endemic.
What it Looks Like
This Acacia plautella shrub spreads out and can be a bit prickly. It usually grows to be about 0.6 to 1.0 metre (2.0 to 3.3 ft) tall. Its branches are smooth and have a white outer layer (called the epidermis) that peels off as the plant gets older. It also has small, temporary leaf-like parts called stipules that fall off early.
Like most Acacia plants, it doesn't have true leaves. Instead, it has special flattened stems called phyllodes that look and act like leaves. These phyllodes are stiff, pointed, and stay green all year. They are shaped like a line or a triangle, measuring 5 to 15 mm (0.20 to 0.59 in) long and 1.5 to 2 mm (0.059 to 0.079 in) wide. Each phyllode has one main vein and another faint vein running next to it.
The plant produces bright yellow flowers. These flowers grow in small, round clusters, usually with 15 to 20 golden flowers in each ball. After the flowers, thin, leathery seed pods form. These pods are red to brown and look a bit like a string of beads. They can grow up to 7.5 cm (3.0 in) long and 3.5 to 4 mm (0.14 to 0.16 in) wide. Inside these pods are black and cream-colored seeds. The seeds are shaped like an oval or an egg, about 3 to 4 mm (0.12 to 0.16 in) long, and have a small, cone-shaped attachment called an aril.
How it Got its Name
The Acacia plautella was first officially described by a plant expert named Bruce Maslin in 1999. He wrote about it in a scientific paper called Acacia miscellany. The taxonomy of fifty-five species of Acacia, primarily Western Australian, in section Phyllodineae. This paper was published in a journal called Nuytsia.
Later, in 2003, another botanist named Leslie Pedley reclassified it and gave it a different name, Racosperma plautellum. But then, in 2014, it was moved back to the Acacia group, which is where it is now.
Where it Grows
This acacia plant is found naturally in a specific area of the Mid West region of Western Australia. It typically grows on flat, sandy areas called sand-plains, often in yellow sandy soils. Its range stretches from near Shark Bay in the north down to around Northampton in the south. This area is about 50 km (31 mi) north of the Murchison River. Here, it grows as part of plant communities known as mallee scrubland.
