Acacia catenulata

Acacia catenulata, commonly known as bendee, is a tree belonging to the genus Acacia and the subgenus Juliflorae that is endemic to some arid areas in Australia.

Bendee
Scientific classification
Kingdom: Plantae
Clade: Tracheophytes
Clade: Angiosperms
Clade: Eudicots
Clade: Rosids
Order: Fabales
Family: Fabaceae
Clade: Mimosoideae
Genus: Acacia
Species:
A. catenulata
Binomial name
Acacia catenulata
Occurrence data from AVH

Description

The tree typically grows to a height of 15 metres (49 ft) with a dark deeply fluted trunk[1] with numerous short horizontal branches and angular branchlets with darker young growth and that have a scattering of short hairs. Like most species of Acacia it has phyllodes rather than true leaves. The evergreen, flat, straight phyllodes are glabrescent with a length of 3 to 9.5 cm (1.2 to 3.7 in) and a width of 3 to 12 mm (0.12 to 0.47 in) and are finely striated longitudinally with a more prominent midnerve.[2] When it blooms it produces simple inflorescences that occur singly or in pairs in the axils with cylindrical flower-spikes that are 10 to 30 mm (0.39 to 1.18 in) in length. After flowering pale brown flat seed pods form that are contracted between each of the seeds. The pods are quite straight with a length of up to 8 cm (3.1 in) and a width of 4 to 6 mm (0.16 to 0.24 in) that are glabrous and longitudinally wrinkled. The longitudinally arranged oblong seeds are 4 to 5 mm (0.16 to 0.20 in) in length anf 2 to 2.5 mm (0.079 to 0.098 in) wide with a small yellow aril.[2]

Taxonomy

It was first formally described by the botanist Cyril Tenison White in 1944 as part of the work Contributions to the Queensland Flora as published in the Proceedings of the Royal Society of Queensland. It was reclassified as Racosperma catenulatum by Leslie Pedley in 1987 and transferred back to genus Acacia in 2001.[3]

There are two recognized subspecies

  • Acacia catenulata subsp. catenulata
  • Acacia catenulata subsp. occidentalis

Distribution

It is native to an area of the Pilbara region of Western Australia centred around Newman where it is commonly found on scarps composed of weathered sediments growing in shallow soils.[1] It only has a limited distribution in the Northern Territory but is quite common in central and southern Queensland.[2]

See also

References
  1. "Acacia catenulata". FloraBase. Western Australian Government Department of Parks and Wildlife.
  2. "Acacia catenulata". WorldWideWattle. Western Australian Herbarium. Retrieved 25 March 2020.
  3. "Acacia catenulata C.T.White". Atlas of Living Australia. Global Biodiversity Information Facility. Retrieved 26 March 2020.
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