Acacia drepanophylla


Acacia drepanophylla is a species of flowering plant in the family Fabaceae and is endemic to the far west of Western Australia. It is a tree with fibrous bark and glabrous branchlets, widely spreading linear, sickle-shaped, glabrous phyllodes spikes of pale yellow flowers, and linear, firmly papery to thinly leathery pods.

Description

Acacia drepanophylla is a tree that typically grows to a height of and has fissured, fibrous grey bark and glabrous branchlets. Its phyllodes are widely spreading, linear, sickle-shaped, mostly long, wide and finely striated with the midvein more obvious than the other veins. The flowers are pale yellow and borne in two spikes about long and about in diameter in axils on peduncles long. Flowering occurs from May to July and the pods are linear, flat, but rounded over and slightly constricted between the seeds, firmly papery to thinly leathery, up to long and wide and glabrous. The seeds are compressed globe-shaped, in diameter and dull, grey-brown with a small aril.

Taxonomy

Acacia drepanophylla was first formally described in 1983 by the Bruce Maslin in the journal Nuytsia from specimens he collected north of the Overlander Roadhouse on the North West Coastal Highway in 1972. The specific epithet means 'sickle-shaped', referring to the characteristically-shaped phyllodes.
This species is related to A. oldfieldii which grows nearby, it is also related to Acacia acuminata|A. acuminata which is found further south.

Distributionand habitat

This species of wattle is common throughout its [range, and is sometimes dominant. It grows in shallow red clay or loam over limestone in Acacia scrub and shrubland and is restricted to the Shark Bay area between Yaringa Station and south to Wannoo in the Carnarvon, and Yalgoo bioregions in the far west of Western Australia.

Conservation status

Acacia drepanophylla is listed as "Priority Three" by the Government of Western Australia Department of Biodiversity, Conservation and Attractions, meaning that it is poorly known and known from only a few locations but is not under imminent threat.