Salt wattle facts for kids
Quick facts for kids Salt wattle |
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|---|---|
| Scientific classification | |
| Genus: |
Acacia
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| Species: |
ampliceps
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| Occurrence data from Australasian Virtual Herbarium | |
Acacia ampliceps, also known as salt wattle, is a shrub or tree belonging to the genus Acacia and the subgenus Phyllodineae that is native to north western parts of Australia.
Description
The bushy and glabrous shrub or tree typically grows to a height of 1.5 to 9 metres (5 to 30 ft). It has pendulous, yellow-coloured and glabrous branchlets. The thin light green phyllodes are usually pendulous with a linear to lanceolate shape and have a length of 7 to 25 cm (2.8 to 9.8 in) and 7 to 30 mm (0.28 to 1.18 in) width. It blooms from May to August and produces cream flowers.
Taxonomy
The species was first formally described by the botanist Bruce Maslin in 1974 as part of the work Studies in the genus Acacia Miscellaneous new phyllodinous species as published in the journal Nuytsia. It was reclassified as Racosperma ampliceps by Leslie Pedley in 2003 then transferred back to the genus Acacia in 2006.
Distributon
It is endemic to an area in the Northern Territory and the Kimberley and Pilbara regions of Western Australia where it occurs along watercourses and in floodplains, on coastal sand dunes and salt flats growing in sandy soils.
