Wongan gully wattle facts for kids
Quick facts for kids Wongan gully wattle |
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|---|---|
| Conservation status | |
| Scientific classification | |
| Genus: |
Acacia
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| Species: |
pharangites
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| Occurrence data from AVH | |
The Wongan gully wattle (Acacia pharangites) is a type of shrub. It belongs to the Acacia plant group. This plant grows only in a small part of southwestern Australia. It is considered an endangered plant. This means it is at high risk of disappearing forever. The Australian government protects it under a special law.
What Does It Look Like?
This wattle is a thin, open shrub. It usually grows to be about 1.5 to 3 meters (5 to 10 feet) tall. Its branches are smooth and can have a fine white powder on them. You might see small scars on the branches. These are where its leaf-like parts used to be.
Like most Acacia plants, it doesn't have true leaves. Instead, it has special parts called phyllodes. These phyllodes look and act like leaves. They are stiff, grey-green, and shaped like a cylinder. They can be straight or slightly curved. Each phyllode is about 1.5 to 5 centimeters (0.6 to 2 inches) long. They are very thin, about 1 millimeter wide. You can see seven smooth lines running along them.
Flowers and Seeds
The Wongan gully wattle blooms in August. It produces bright yellow flowers. These flowers grow in small, oval-shaped groups. Each flower group is about 7 to 10 millimeters (0.3 to 0.4 inches) long. They contain about 25 golden-colored flowers.
After the flowers, seed pods grow. These pods are thin and leathery. They also have a white, powdery coating. The pods are long and narrow, up to 7 centimeters (2.8 inches) long. They are about 4 millimeters (0.16 inches) wide. Inside, there are shiny black seeds. Each seed is about 3 to 4 millimeters long. They have a yellow part called an aril attached to them.
Where Does It Grow?
This wattle grows in a small area of the Wheatbelt region. This is in Western Australia. It likes to grow in gullies, which are small valleys. It prefers clay soils that are found over a type of rock called greenstone.
The Wongan gully wattle is only found near Wongan Hills. It usually grows with other scrubland plants. There are very few of these plants left. Only two main groups of them are known. Together, they have only 49 mature plants.
Most of the natural plant areas in this region have been cleared. This was done to make space for farms. One group of these wattles is on private land. The other group is in a nature reserve. This shows how important it is to protect the remaining plants.
Images for kids
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Map showing where the Wongan gully wattle is found.
