Fern-leaved wattle facts for kids
Quick facts for kids Fern-leaved wattle |
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| Acacia filicifolia growing in the Imbota Nature Reserve near Armidale | |
| Scientific classification | |
| Genus: |
Acacia
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| Species: |
filicifolia
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| Occurrence data from AVH | |
| Synonyms | |
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Racosperma filicifolium Pedley |
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The Fern-leaved wattle (Acacia filicifolia) is a type of plant found in eastern Australia. It belongs to the pea and bean family, called Fabaceae. This plant can grow as a shrub or a tree. It has special leaves that look a lot like the fronds of a fern. Its flowers are yellow or bright yellow and grow in round clusters. You can see them blooming from autumn all the way to late spring. This wattle is very common, especially along the coast and in the higher areas of New South Wales.
What it Looks Like
The Fern-leaved wattle is a plant that grows straight up. It can be a shrub or a tree, reaching a height of about 3 to 14 meters (10 to 46 feet). Its bark is usually smooth and grey or dark brown. As the tree gets older, the bark starts to crack. The smaller branches are roundish and have thin lines running along them.
The leaves of this wattle are quite special. They are compound leaves, meaning they are made up of many smaller parts. The main stalk of the leaf, called a petiole, is about 7 to 23 millimeters (0.3 to 0.9 inches) long. It usually has one to five small bumps called glands. The central stem of the leaf, known as the rachis, is typically 40 to 120 millimeters (1.6 to 4.7 inches) long. This rachis has glands scattered along it.
From the rachis, there are usually 5 to 14 pairs of side branches called pinnae. Each pinna is about 30 to 80 millimeters (1.2 to 3.1 inches) long. On each pinna, there are many tiny leaf parts called pinnules. There can be 25 to 100 pairs of these pinnules! Each pinnule is narrow and shaped like a line, about 4 to 10 millimeters (0.16 to 0.39 inches) long and only about 0.5 millimeters (0.02 inches) wide. This detailed structure makes the leaves look like fern fronds.
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The flowers of the Fern-leaved wattle grow in a branching cluster called a panicle. The individual flowers are grouped together in round heads. These heads sit on small stalks called peduncles, which are about 2 to 4 millimeters (0.08 to 0.16 inches) long. Each flower head is about 3 to 6 millimeters (0.12 to 0.24 inches) across. It contains 15 to 30 individual flowers, which are yellow or bright yellow.
You can see these beautiful flowers blooming from July to October. After flowering, the plant produces fruits. These fruits are called legumes, or "pods," just like pea pods. They are about 35 to 130 millimeters (1.4 to 5.1 inches) long and 6 to 17 millimeters (0.24 to 0.67 inches) wide. The pods are mostly flat and have straight sides.
How it Got its Name
The Fern-leaved wattle was first officially described in 1932. This was done by two scientists, Edwin Cheel and Marcus Baldwin Welch. They published their description in a scientific journal.
The scientific name, filicifolia, comes from two Latin words. Filix means "fern," and folium means "a leaf." So, filicifolia literally means "fern-leaved." This name perfectly describes how the leaves of this wattle look like the fronds of a fern.
Where it Lives
You can find the Fern-leaved wattle growing in forests. It prefers sandy soil and often grows in gullies and near creeks. Its natural home stretches from southeastern Queensland down to Batemans Bay in southern New South Wales. It is most commonly found along the coast and in the nearby tablelands, which are elevated flat areas.
