Acacia dura
Acacia dura is a species of flowering plant in the family Fabaceae and is endemic to the south-west of Western Australia. It is a densely branched shrub with erect, narrowly linear phyllodes, spherical heads of golden yellow flowers, and linear, thinly crust-like pods, more or less constricted between the seeds.
Description
Acacia dura is a densely branched, glabrous shrub that typically grows to a height of and has ribbed branchlets. Its phyllodes are erect, narrowly linear, compressed and flat, long and wide with six raised veins and a distinct gland above the base of the phyllode. The flowers are borne in two spherical heads in axils on peduncles long. The heads are in diameter with 6 to 26 golden yellow flowers. Flowering occurs in August, and the pods are linear, straight to slightly curved, up to long and wide, thinly crust-like, glabrous and more or less constricted between the seeds. The seeds are narrowly elliptic, long and shiny, with a club-shaped aril extending along one side.
Taxonomy
Acacia dura was first formally described in 1855 by George Bentham in the journal Linnaea from specimens collected by James Drummond. The specific epithet, means 'hard', 'unpolished' or 'vigorous', referring to the thick, rigid phyllodes.
Distribution
This species of wattle is known only from the Wongan Hills-Piawaning area where it grows in sand in heath with Melaleuca uncinata in the Avon Wheatbelt bioregion of south-western Western Australia.
Conservation status
Acacia dura is listed as "Priority Two" by the Government of Western Australia Department of Biodiversity, Conservation and Attractions, meaning that it is poorly known and from one or a few locations.