Acacia flagelliformis
Acacia flagelliformis is a species of flowering plant in the family Fabaceae and is endemic to the south-west of Western Australia. It is an erect or sprawling, rush-like subshrub with slender stems, erect, ascending, narrowly linear phyllodes resembling the stems, spherical heads of light golden yellow flowers and tightly and narrowly oblong, crusty pods.
Description
Acacia flagelliformis is an erect or sprawling, rush-like, often multi-stemmed, glabrous subshrub that typically grows to a height of up to and has slender, sparingly branched stems. Its phyllodes are ascending to erect, and resemble the stems. The phyllodes on the lower stems are flat, up to long and wide, and on the upper stems up to long and wide. The flowers are borne in four to nine spherical heads in axils, enclosed by conspicuous overlapping brown bracts when young. The heads are on peduncles mostly long, each head with six to nine, light golden yellow flowers. Flowering occurs from May to September, and the pods are narrowly oblong, crusty, up to long and wide. The seeds are about long, slightly shiny brown, with a club-shaped aril.
Taxonomy
Acacia flagelliformis was first formally described in 1978 by Arthur Bertram Court in the journal Nuytsia from specimens collected by Bruce Maslin south of the Bussell Highway between Bunbury and Busselton in 1972. The specific epithet means 'whip-shaped, referring to the stems and phyllodes.
Distribution and habitat
This species of wattle grows in swampy areas in closed scrub or closed heath and along creeks in jarrah or marri (Corymbia calophylla forest between Bunbury and Chapman Hill (about south of Busselton, and near Yarloop in the Jarrah Forest and Swan Coastal Plain bioregions of south-western Western Australia.
Conservation status
Acacia flagelliformis is listed as "Priority Four" by the Government of Western Australia Department of Biodiversity, Conservation and Attractions, meaning that is rare or near threatened.