Acacia scalena

Acacia scalena is a shrub of the genus Acacia and the subgenus Phyllodineae that is endemic to a small area in western Australia.

Description

The rigid prickly shrub typically grows to a height of. The glabrous, short, rigid and straight branchlets are patent to ascending are often spinose and lightly covered in a fine white powdery coating. Like many species it has phyllodes rather than new leaves. The grey-green to blue-green, pungent, sessile and dimidiate phyllodes have a length of and a width of with a midrib near lower margin. It blooms from June to September and produces yellow flowers. The rudimentary inflorescences occur singly on racemes with a length of around the spherical flower-heads contain 18 to 22 golden coloured flowers. The undulate seed pods that form after flowering have a narrowly oblong shape with a length of up to and a width of. The mottled seeds inside have an elliptic shape with a length of about and a waxy dull yellow aril.

Distribution

It is native to an area in the Wheatbelt and Mid West regions of Western Australia where it is found growing in yellow coloured sandy or loamy soils. The range of the plant extends from around Ballidu in the south to around Latham in the north where it is usually found as a part of Eucalyptus woodland or open heath communities.