Acacia meisneri

Acacia meisneri is a species of shrub in the family Fabaceae. It belongs to the subgenus Phyllodineae and is endemic to an area in south western Australia.

Description

The dense much-branched shrub typically grows to a height of. It has a funnel-shaped or rounded habit with glabrous branchlets that are usually covered with a fine, white powdery coating. Like most species of Acacia it has phyllodes rather than true leaves. The grey to grey-green coloured phyllodes have an elliptic to oblanceolate or obovate shape with a length of and a width of that are obtuse to acute with one nerve per face and a powdery white coating. It blooms from November to February but can flower sporadically throughout the year.

Taxonomy

The species was first formally described in 1842 by Johann Georg Christian Lehmann as part of the work Delectus Seminum quae in Horto Hamburgensium botanico e collectione. It was later described by Carl Meissner in 1844 in Plantae Preissianae. It was reclassified as Racosperma meisneri by Leslie Pedley in 2003 then transferred back to genus Acacia in 2006.

Distribution

It is native to an area in the Wheatbelt region of Western Australia where it is commonly found growing in clay, sandy, loamy and sometimes rocky soils. It is situated throughout the drainage basin of the Avon River from around Goomalling in the north to around Brookton in the south and is situated on plains, along watercourses and on roadsides commonly as a part of Eucalyptus wandoo communities.