Acacia kempeana


Acacia kempeana, commonly known as wanderrie wattle, witchetty bush or granite wattle, is a shrub in subfamily Mimosoideae of family Fabaceae that is endemic to arid parts of central and western Australia.

Description

Witchetty bush grows as a spreading shrub or tree with many stems typically to a height of but can reach over. It has furrowed, usually grey or brown coloured bark and terete, glabrous terete branchlets that are slightly scurfy. Like most Acacia species, it has phyllodes rather than true leaves. These are a bright green to grey-green or blue-green colour, flat, up to around in length and wide. The phyllodes have a narrowly elliptic to narrowly elliptic, sometimes narrowly oblanceolate shape. The flowers between January or April and September are yellow, and held in cylindrical clusters in length. The pods are papery, about long and wide.

Taxonomy

The species was first formally described by the botanist Ferdinand von Mueller in 1882 as part of the work Remarks on Australian Acacias as published in the Australasian Chemist and Druggist. It was reclassified as Racosperma kempeanum in 1987 by Leslie Pedley then transferred back to the genus Acacia in 2006.
It is closely related to Acacia sibirica, Acacia duriuscula and Acacia aprepta.

Uses

Witchetty grubs are a traditional staple food in arid regions. These larvae feed on the roots of the witchetty bush, as well as other Acacia species. The bush also provides edible gum and seeds.

Distribution

The shrub is widely distributed through arid and semi-arid inland areas of Western Australia, South Australia, the Northern Territory and Queensland. It is often found growing on stony hillsides and in a variety of soil types, especially coarse textured alluvium, and can often form part of mulga woodland communities on plains with sandy to loamy soils.

Cultivation

The shrub can be propagated from scarified seeds or seeds pre-treated in boiling water. It grows well in an open, sunny and reasonably well-drained position and is suitable for most soil types. It is a hardy species in dry and low maintenance areas, well noted for being both drought and frost tolerant.