Mount Maroon wattle facts for kids
Quick facts for kids Mount Maroon wattle |
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| Scientific classification | |
| Genus: |
Acacia
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| Species: |
saxicola
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| Occurrence data from AVH | |
The Mount Maroon wattle (scientific name: Acacia saxicola) is a special kind of shrub. It's part of the Acacia family, which is a large group of plants. You can find this wattle growing naturally in eastern Australia.
What the Mount Maroon Wattle Looks Like
This shrub usually grows to about 1.5 meters (or 5 feet) tall. It has many branches that spread out, making it look bushy.
Its small branches, called branchlets, are mostly smooth (or "glabrous," meaning hairless). These branchlets have tiny leaf-like parts called stipules, which are about 1.5 to 3 millimeters long. The branchlets are round.
Like most Acacia plants, the Mount Maroon wattle doesn't have regular leaves. Instead, it has "phyllodes." These are flattened leaf stalks that look and act like leaves. The phyllodes are shiny and dark green. They are crowded together but spread out, shaped like a spear or a narrow triangle. They are stiff and have a sharp, pointed tip that can be up to 1.5 millimeters long and reddish. Each phyllode is about 7.5 to 14 millimeters long and wide, and has a clear central vein.
When the wattle blooms, it produces round flower heads. These flower heads are about 13 millimeters across and are packed with 40 to 50 bright, pale golden-yellow flowers.
After the flowers, seed pods form. These pods are firm but thin, up to 3 centimeters long and about 5 millimeters wide. They are dark brown and have an uneven, wavy shape. Inside, they hold dark brown seeds that are round and flattened, about 4 millimeters long.
How the Mount Maroon Wattle Got Its Name
A botanist named Leslie Pedley was the first to officially describe this plant in 1969. He wrote about it in a scientific paper called Notes on Acacia, chiefly from Queensland.
Later, in 1987, Pedley changed its scientific name to Racosperma saxicola. But then, in 2001, it was moved back to the Acacia group, so its name became Acacia saxicola again.
The Mount Maroon wattle looks a bit like two other wattle species: Acacia ulicifolia and Acacia brachycarpa. However, the Mount Maroon wattle has wider phyllodes (its leaf-like parts) and shorter flower stalks compared to these other wattles.
Where the Mount Maroon Wattle Lives
This special wattle is "endemic" to a very small area. This means it only grows naturally in one specific place in the world. For the Mount Maroon wattle, that place is around Mount Maroon in the Mount Barney National Park. This park is in southeastern Queensland, south of a town called Boonah.
You can find it growing at high altitudes, around 900 meters (about 2,950 feet) above sea level. It prefers rocky slopes and small cracks in the rocks. It grows in thin, sandy soil found in these rocky spots, as part of a plant community called heathland. It especially likes to grow in small pockets of soil that collect in the rock crevices.
