Acacia elata

Mountain Cedar Wattle at Isaacs, ACT

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Identification history

Acacia elata	15 Apr 2018	BettyDonWood
Acacia elata	14 Apr 2018	MichaelMulvaney
Unidentified	31 Mar 2018	Mike

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User's notes

Exotic or at least non-local.

9 comments

Mike wrote:

1 Apr 2018

Testing the latest Android app update. I don't know what the plant is.

MichaelMulvaney wrote:

7 Apr 2018

Mike the gland on the leaf stem suggests that this may be a wattle

Mike wrote:

15 Apr 2018

Photo of leaf and close-up of gland added 14 Apr 2018.

BettyDonWood wrote:

15 Apr 2018

Acacia elata is quite frost tender so I doubt it could go feral in Canberra. It requires a lot of TLC here and then usually karks it before it ever has a flower.
Also Acacia elata has only one gland, perhaps two, on the rachis. I agree that the jugary glands suggest a wattle, but not elata.
It is not Paraserinthes either. This has four pairs of leaflets or fewer, and only one gland on the rachis.

Mike wrote:

15 Apr 2018

Michael Mulvaney, the specimen of A. elata you collected from Stirling Ridge in 1985 shows on AVH as being east of the airport. Plantnet says A. elata is "attractive foliage and not likely to be confused with other species".

MichaelMulvaney wrote:

15 Apr 2018

I did collect it on Stirling Ridge, in the days before GPS so my grid points may have been out. I lodged it with the CSIRO herbarium so that id is good, but not sure about this one.

Mike wrote:

15 Apr 2018

ABRS Flora of Australia Online describes leaf of A. elata as "Leaves dark green, much paler beneath; pulvinus swollen; petiole 2.5–7.5 (–9) cm long, terete, with 1 prominent dark brown gland 1/4–2/3 below basal pinnae; rachis (3–) 8–17 (–22) cm long, eglandular or sometimes 1 gland at base of uppermost pair of pinnae; pinnae 2–7 pairs, (7–) 10–23 cm long, with a gland often at base of upper 1–5 or more pairs of pinnules; pinnules 8–22 pairs, lanceolate to narrowly lanceolate, often curved, (10–) 20–60 mm long, (3–) 5–13 mm wide (lower ones shorter than others), glabrous or with sparse appressed hairs above, with ±moderately dense white or yellow appressed hairs beneath, with ±central midnerve and 1 or sometimes 2 secondary nerve(s) from base not reaching the margins and sometimes minor lateral nerves, acutely acuminate." I haven't looked at other possibilities but the sticking point of glands seems to be covered.

Mike wrote:

16 Apr 2018

Thanks Betty, another non-local acacia added to Isaacs Ridge.

BettyDonWood wrote:

16 Apr 2018

I am not 100% sure that is what it is. It might be some unknown exotic, or even a wattle I had not considered. It would be interesting to see what the flowers are like.

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