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White Sally Wattle

Acacia floribunda

Description:

Acacia floribunda, commonly known as "white sally wattle, gossamer wattle, catkin wattle, and weeping acacia", is a member of the family Fabaceae. Grows as a small tree upwards of 6-8 metres in height, but sometimes as a bushy shrub instead. It's a very useful plant for wildlife - heavy flowering provides resources for a wide range of invertebrates, particularly bees; seed pods and seeds are eaten by parrots; sap flow is relished by sugar gliders. Foliage has some use as fodder for livestock such as goats. Very useful for controlling erosion, especially in gullies, and as a wind breaker and shade tree. This is a very hardy species that is well-adapted to extremes of weather, and is native to New South Wales, Queensland and Victoria. Unlike some wattle species, it is generally killed by fire in the wild, but has a long-lived soil seed bank. PS: The name of this national park is Girraween, which actually means "place of flowers".

Habitat:

Spotted at the base of a granite outcrop, on the banks of Paling Yard Creek, Girraween National Park, southeast Queensland. Dry sclerophyll forest with sandy granite soils, and hot, largely exposed area. However, water is usually no problem as the shrub is situated by the creek. Here's some park info - http://www.rymich.com/girraween/ https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Girraween_...

Notes:

The flowers of this spotting, particularly the pale shade of yellow plus the size and shape, are synonymous with A. floribunda. However, the shape of the leaves has me wondering about the ID - they should be long and thin. Perhaps this is an immature plant, or fresh regrowth and these are immature leaves, or maybe there are variations within the species that account for this? I've found some decent images for comparison, but have also had to look further afield. https://apps.lucidcentral.org/wattle/tex... Two other species also worth considering are: A. striatifolia (common name unk.).... https://apps.lucidcentral.org/wattle/tex... and A. williamsiana (common name unk.).... http://plantnet.rbgsyd.nsw.gov.au/cgi-bi... Both also endemic to this region. I have based my investigations on the following local species lists and have done comparison between each, plus image searches on a number of other sites also.... http://www.rymich.com/girraween/index.ph... https://wetlandinfo.des.qld.gov.au/wetla... PS: Another local species is A. pubifolia (Wyberba or velvet wattle), but its flowers are a vibrant yellow. Lastly, A. concurrens (black wattle) looks very similar, but there's no local reference for this species at Girraween.

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2 Comments

Neil Ross
Neil Ross 3 years ago

Thanks, Saturniidae27. Wattle is starting to pop up everywhere now. Plants you usually wouldn't like twice at are now magnificent. This spotting was spared the recent bout of fires (twice in 2 years), so despite being small and woody, it stood out.

Saturniidae27
Saturniidae27 3 years ago

Nice find Neil. Very iconic to the Australia landscape :-)

Neil Ross
Spotted by
Neil Ross

Girraween, Queensland, Australia

Spotted on Aug 11, 2020
Submitted on Aug 13, 2020

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