Acacia ayersiana
Acacia ayersiana, commonly known as Ayers Rock mulga, broad-leaf mulga, Uluru mulga, or blue mulga, is a species of flowering plant in the family Fabaceae and is endemic to arid areas of inland Australia. It is a rounded or conical shrub with the narrower end towards the base or a singe-stemmed tree, its phyllodes narrowly elliptic to lance-shaped, the flowers yellow and arranged in cylindrical spikes, and papery pods up to long on a short stalk.
Description
Acacia ayersiana grows as a rounded or conical, many-stemmed shrub high and wide, sometimes as a single-stemmed tree high. Its branchlets are covered with soft hairs pressed against the surface between red-brown ribs. Its phyllodes are narrowly elliptic to lance-shaped, mostly long and wide. The flowers are borne in spikes long on a peduncle long. Flowering has been recorded in February and from April to June, and the pods are oblong on a short stalk, long and wide and papery. The seeds are oblong, long and wide with a small white aril.
Taxonomy
Acacia ayersiana was first formally published in 1978 by John Maconochie, based on specimens he collected at Ayers Rock in 1973. The specific epithet refers to Ayers Rock where the type specimen was collected.
Uluru mulga grows in low-lying areas and along creeks and swales and is widely distributed throughout arid and semi-arid parts of Australia, occurring in Western Australia, South Australia, and southern parts of the Northern Territory.