Species

Acacia longifolia

Etymology

Acacia: Derived from Greek 'akazo' to sharpen, meaning point; spine or thorn.
longifolia: long leaf

Common Name(s)

Sydney golden wattle

Authority

Acacia longifolia (Andrews) Willd.

Family

Fabaceae

Flora Category

Vascular - Exotic

NVS Species Code

ACALON

The National Vegetation Survey (NVS) Databank is a physical archive and electronic databank containing records of over 94,000 vegetation survey plots - including data from over 19,000 permanent plots. NVS maintains a standard set of species code abbreviations that correspond to standard scientific plant names from the Ngä Tipu o Aotearoa - New Zealand Plants database.

Structural Class

Dicotyledonous Trees & Shrubs

Habitat

Shrubland, coastal areas, dry banks and river beds.

Features

Shrub or small tree, twigs sharply angled, glabrous or sparsely hairy. Leaves reduced to phyllodes, phyllodes narrowly elliptic to obovate, symmetric or slightly curved up to 130 x 22mm, with 2 prominent veins. Inflorescence is a spike of pale to golden yellow flowers. Seed pod straight or slightly curved, up to 120 x 4mm.

Similar Taxa

Very similar to A. sophorae, but A. sophorae has wider phyllodes and very contorted pods. Also similar to A. floribunda but this species has much narrower phyllodes.

Flowering

July, August

Flower Colours

Cream,Yellow

Year Naturalised

1897

Origin

E. Australia

Reason For Introduction
Ornamental

Life Cycle Comments
Perennial.

Reproduction
Huge quantities of seed are produced, estimated viability of about 50 years.

Seed
Huge quantities of seed are produced, estimated viability of about 50 years.

Dispersal
Widely planted as an ornamental. Seeds dispersed locally by wind and gravity

Tolerances
Tolerates frost, extended dry periods, and salt spray.

This page last updated on 8 May 2011