Acacia baueri
Acacia baueri, commonly known as tiny wattle, is a species of flowering plant in the family Fabaceae and is endemic to eastern Australia. It is a low-lying to spreading subshrub with usually whorled or scattered phyllodes, bright yellow flowers arranged in spherical head in axils, and thinly leathery pods.
Description
Acacia baueri is a low-lying to spreading subshrub that forms rhizomes and typically grows to a height of. Its phyllodes are whorled or scattered, straight or slightly curved, circular in cross section, long and about wide. The phyllodes are leathery and glabrous or with a few hairs and more or less glaucous. Each head is in diameter with 8 to 20 bright yellow flowers. Flowering usually occurs from September to June, and the pods are flat, slightly curved, thinly leathery, long and wide, sometimes slightly constricted between the seeds. The pods contain up to 3 oblong to shortly cylindrical seeds long with a convoluted aril.Taxonomy
Acacia baueri was first formally described in 1842 by George Bentham in the London Journal of Botany from specimens collected by "Bauer". The specific epithet honours the botanical artist Ferdinand Bauer who was appointed as a botanical draughtsman to Matthew Flinders 1801 Exploration of the Australian coastline expedition.In 1972, Leslie Pedley described two subspecies of A. baueri in Contributions from the Queensland Herbarium, and the names are accepted by the Australian Plant Census:Acacia baueri subsp. aspera Pedley, formerly known as Acacia baueri var. aspera Maiden & Betche has flowers in heads of 8 to 10, peduncles long, sepals long with lobes long and petals long.Acacia baueri Benth. subsp. baueri, has flowers in heads of 10 to 20, peduncles long, sepals long with lobes long and petals long.
Distribution and habitat
Acacia baueri occurs from Fraser Island in Queensland and south to Sydney in New South Wales.Subspecies aspera is restricted to the Blue Mountains, Royal National Park and Wilton in New South Wales, where it grows in exposed, rocky places in low heath.
Subspecies baueri grows in coastal heath in often waterlogged soil from Fraser Island to Botany Bay in New South Wales.
Conservation status
Acacia baueri subsp. aspera is listed as "endangered" under the Australian Government Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation Act 1999 and as "vulnerable" under the New South Wales Government Biodiversity Conservation Act 2016.Acacia baueri subsp. baueri is listed as "vulnerable" under the Queensland Government Nature Conservation Act 1992.