Acacia rubricola facts for kids
Acacia rubricola is a special kind of shrub that belongs to the Acacia family. You might know other acacias as wattles! This plant is native to the northeastern part of Australia.
Quick facts for kids Acacia rubricola |
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| Scientific classification | |
| Genus: |
Acacia
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| Species: |
rubricola
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| Occurrence data from AVH | |
Contents
What Does Acacia rubricola Look Like?
This shrub usually grows up to about 2 meters (or 6.5 feet) tall. That's about as tall as two average-sized kids standing on top of each other! It has lots of branches and thick leaves, making it look very bushy.
Its small branches are ribbed and a bit hairy. The plant's "leaves" are actually called phyllodes. These are like flattened leaf stems that do the job of leaves. The phyllodes of Acacia rubricola grow out from the ribs on the branches.
The Unique Phyllodes
The phyllodes are flat and stay green all year round. They are shaped like long, thin lines, usually straight or slightly wavy. Each phyllode is about 40 to 43 millimeters long (that's about 1.5 to 1.7 inches) and only 1 to 2 millimeters wide. You can see a single yellow, see-through line, called a nerve, running down the middle of each phyllode. This nerve is easy to spot on both sides.
Flowers and Seed Pods
Acacia rubricola flowers between August and October. Its flowers grow in round clusters, called inflorescences. Each flower cluster looks like a small, yellow ball and holds about 20 to 35 tiny yellow flowers.
After the flowers bloom, from late November to January, the plant starts to form seed pods. These pods are dark brown and feel a bit like paper (this is what "chartaceous" means). They are long and thin, but you can see bumps where the seeds are inside. The pods can grow up to about 40 millimeters long (about 1.5 inches) and 2.5 millimeters wide.
Inside these pods are dark brown seeds. Each seed is about 3.7 to 4.5 millimeters long and 1.6 to 2 millimeters wide. They have a creamy-white part attached to them called an aril, which often helps with seed dispersal.
Where Does Acacia rubricola Grow?
This special shrub is endemic to a very small area in southeastern Queensland, Australia. "Endemic" means it's found naturally only in that specific place and nowhere else in the world!
You can find it on the Binjour Plateau, near a town called Gayndah. It prefers to grow in red, loamy soils. It's often part of open areas with low-growing plants (called heathland) or in woodlands where Eucalyptus trees are common.
