Frosty wattle facts for kids
Quick facts for kids Frosty wattle |
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|---|---|
| Scientific classification | |
| Genus: |
Acacia
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| Species: |
pruinosa
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| Occurrence data from AVH | |
Acacia pruinosa, commonly known as the frosty wattle, is a species of Acacia native to eastern Australia.
Description
The spreading shrub or tree typically grows to a height of 1 to 6 metres (3 to 20 ft) and has smooth bark with terete branchlets. The glabrous leaves are 2 to 6.5 cm (0.79 to 2.56 in) in length and have one prominent gland near the middle of the lowermost pair of pinnae. There are between one and five pairs of pinnae that have a length of 3 to 9 cm (1.2 to 3.5 in) and 7 to 20 pairs of oblong pinnules that are 8 to 17 mm (0.31 to 0.67 in) in length and 2.5 to 5 mm (0.098 to 0.197 in) wide. The plant flowers between August and October producing 4 to 19 inflorescences in panicles that have an axis with a length of 2 to 15 cm (0.79 to 5.91 in). The spherical flower-heads with a diameter of 5 to 10 mm (0.20 to 0.39 in) contain 40 to 60 yellow to bright yellow flowers. After flowering leathery straight to curved, flat seed pods form with a length of 4 to 14 cm (1.6 to 5.5 in) and a width of 6 to 12 mm (0.24 to 0.47 in).
The type specimen was collected by the botanist Alan Cunningham in 1827 on the Liverpool Plains of New South Wales.
Distribution
It is found in north eastern New South Wales from around Uralla in the south stretching north into south-eastern Queensland. It is often a part of dry sclerophyll forest and woodland communities and grows in sandy and skeletal soils over and around granite.
