Mount Trafalgar wattle facts for kids

The Acacia orthotropica, also known as the Mount Trafalgar wattle, is a type of shrub. It belongs to the Acacia family, which is a large group of plants. This special wattle tree is found only in a small part of north-western Australia.

What Does the Mount Trafalgar Wattle Look Like?

This unique tree usually has one main stem and can grow to be about 4 meters (around 13 feet) tall. It has a shape that's wider at the top, like a cone. Its branches are smooth and reddish-brown.

Like many Acacia species, the Mount Trafalgar wattle doesn't have true leaves. Instead, it has phyllodes. These are flattened leaf stems that look and act like leaves. The phyllodes are thin, leathery, and stand upright. They are packed closely together and stay green all year. They are narrow and straight, usually 3 to 6 centimeters (about 1 to 2.5 inches) long and 2.5 to 3.5 millimeters wide. Each phyllode has two lines running along its length.

Around January, this wattle tree blooms with simple flowers. These flowers grow in the spots where the phyllodes meet the stem. They form round, ball-shaped clusters with 30 to 35 light golden flowers in each cluster.

Where Does the Mount Trafalgar Wattle Grow?

The Mount Trafalgar wattle is found only in a very small area within the Kimberley region of Western Australia. It lives in just one known spot inside the Prince Regent National Park.

You can find it growing on a rocky slope made of broken sandstone, right next to a small basalt hill. It's part of an open shrubland, which is a type of plant community where shrubs are the main plants. It often grows alongside a ground cover of Triodia plants, which are a type of spinifex grass.