Acacia deficiens

Acacia deficiens
Scientific classification
Kingdom: Plantae
Clade: Tracheophytes
Clade: Angiosperms
Clade: Eudicots
Clade: Rosids
Order: Fabales
Family: Fabaceae
Subfamily: Caesalpinioideae
Clade: Mimosoid clade
Genus: Acacia
Species:
A. deficiens
Binomial name
Acacia deficiens
Occurrence data from AVH
Synonyms[1]
  • Acacia nodiflora var. ferox E.Pritz.
  • Acacia nodiflora var. scoparia E.Pritz.
  • Racosperma deficiens (Maslin) Pedley

Acacia deficiens is a species of flowering plant in the family Fabaceae and is endemic to the south-west of Western Australia. It is a prostrate, domed or spreading shrub with a few mostly lance-shaped to narrowly oblong phyllodes at the base of the end branchlets, spherical heads of golden yellow flowers and narrowly oblong, brittle, glabrous, thinly papery pods.

Description

Acacia deficiens is a prostrate, domed or spreading shrub that typically grows to a height of up to 1 m (3 ft 3 in), its branches dividing into many rigid, ascending to erect, more or less spiny, glabrous branchlets. There are only a few phyllodes at the base of the end branchlets and absent from the upper nodes. The phyllodes are lance-shaped to narrowly oblong, rarely linear, mostly 10–20 mm (0.39–0.79 in) long and 2–4 mm (0.079–0.157 in) wide and green to more or less glaucous and glabrous. The flowers are borne in a spherical heads in axils on a peduncle 4–9 mm (0.16–0.35 in) long, the heads 4–5 mm (0.16–0.20 in) in diameter with normally 20 to 30 golden yellow flowers. Flowering has been rcorded from September to November, and the pods are mostly narrowly oblong, thinly papery and very brittle, up to 40 mm (1.6 in) long, 4–6 mm (0.16–0.24 in) wide and prominently rounded over the seeds. The seeds are egg-shaped to elliptic, 3–4 mm (0.12–0.16 in) long and black.[2][3][4][5][6]

Taxonomy

Acacia deficiens was first formally described in 1999 by Bruce Maslin from specimens he collected 36 km (22 mi) south of Queen Victoria Rock in Western Australia in 1983.[2][7] The specific epithet (deficiens) means 'lacking', referring to the lack of phyllodes on flowering branchlets.[3]

Distribution and habitat

This species of wattle has a scattered distribution from Burakin south to near Lake Grace and east to near Mount Andrew (about 90 km (56 mi) south-west of Balladonia) and Coolgardie. It grows in loam, clay, sandy loam and sand, in open shrub mallee and woodland on flat or gently undulating plains in the Avon Wheatbelt, Coolgardie, Esperance Plains and Mallee bioregions of south-western Western Australia.[3][6]

Conservation status

Acacia deficiens is listed as "not threatened" by the Government of Western Australia Department of Biodiversity, Conservation and Attractions.[6]

See also

References

  1. ^ a b "Acacia deficiens". Australian Plant Census. Retrieved 29 August 2025.
  2. ^ a b Maslin, Bruce R. (1999). "Acacia miscellany 16. The taxonomy of fifty-five species of Acacia, primarily Western Australian, in section Phyllodineae (Leguminosae: Mimosoideae)". Nuytsia. 12 (3): 340–342. Retrieved 2 September 2025.
  3. ^ a b c Maslin, Bruce R. "Acacia deficiens". Flora of Australia. Australian Biological Resources Study, Department of Climate Change, Energy, the Environment and Water: Canberra. Retrieved 2 September 2025.
  4. ^ "Acacia deficiens". Wattle = Acacias of Australia. Lucid Central. Retrieved 2 November 2020.
  5. ^ "Acacia deficiens". World Wide Wattle. Retrieved 2 September 2025.
  6. ^ a b c "Acacia deficiens". FloraBase. Western Australian Government Department of Biodiversity, Conservation and Attractions.
  7. ^ "Acacia deficiens". APNI. Retrieved 2 September 2025.