Trichome

Acacia benthamii

Priority Two — Poorly Known Taxa (DEC)
Scientific classification Edit this classification
Kingdom: Plantae
Clade: Tracheophytes
Clade: Angiosperms
Clade: Eudicots
Clade: Rosids
Order: Fabales
Family: Fabaceae
Subfamily: Caesalpinioideae
Clade: Mimosoid clade
Genus: Acacia
Species:
A. benthamii
Binomial name
Acacia benthamii
Occurrence data from AVH

Acacia benthamii is a shrub of the genus Acacia and the subgenus Plurinerves. It is native to an area along the west coast in the Perth metropolitan region and Wheatbelt region of Western Australia.[1]

Description[edit]

The shrub typically grows to a height of 1 to 3 metres (3 to 10 ft).[1] It has ribbed glabrous branchlets with new shoots that are minutely woolly and with caducous stipules with a length of 1.5 to 2 mm (0.059 to 0.079 in). The pungent linear green phyllodes are attenuate at both ends and commonly inequilateral and have a length of 2 to 4.5 cm (0.79 to 1.77 in) and a width of 2 to 4 mm (0.079 to 0.157 in) with two or three main nerves per face.[2] It blooms from August to September and produces yellow flowers.[1] The spherical flower-heads have a diameter of 5 mm (0.20 in) and contain 27 to 35 golden flowers that are sharply inflexed.[2]

Taxonomy[edit]

The species was first formally described by the botanist Carl Meissner in 1844 in the Johann Georg Christian Lehmann work Plantae Preissianae.[3][4] It was reclassified as Racosperma benthamii by Leslie Pedley in 2003, but returned to the genus Acacia in 2006.[3] It is closely related to Acacia sessilis and closely resembles Acacia cochlearis.[2]

Etymology[edit]

The specific epithet, benthamii, honours George Bentham.[4][5]

Distribution[edit]

It is endemic to the west of Western Australia from around Dandaragan in the north[1] to around Subiaco in the south and is commonly found on limestone breakaways.[2]

See also[edit]

References[edit]

  1. ^ a b c d "Acacia benthamii". FloraBase. Western Australian Government Department of Biodiversity, Conservation and Attractions.
  2. ^ a b c d "Acacia benthamii Meisn". Wattle - Acacias of Australia. Department of the Environment and Energy. Retrieved 22 July 2019.
  3. ^ a b "Acacia benthamii Meisn". Atlas of Living Australia. Global Biodiversity Information Facility. Retrieved 22 July 2019.
  4. ^ a b Meisner, C.D.F. in Lehmann, J.G.C. (ed.) (1844) Leguminosae. Plantae Preissianae 1(1): 11. Retrieved 27 July 2019.
  5. ^ benthamii PlantIllustrations.org. Retrieved 27 July 2019

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