Species profile—Acacia grandifolia
Classification
Plantae (plants) → Equisetopsida (land plants) → Leguminosae → Acacia grandifolia
Sighting data
Species details
- Kingdom
- Plantae (plants)
- Class
- Equisetopsida (land plants)
- Family
- Leguminosae
- Scientific name
- Acacia grandifolia Pedley
- WildNet taxon ID
- 11577
- Nature Conservation Act 1992 (NCA) status
- Near threatened
- Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation Act 1999 (EPBC) status
- Vulnerable
- Conservation significant
- Yes
- Confidential
- No
- Endemicity
- Native
- Pest status
- Nil
- Short Notes
- BRI 093719 (Holotype), 250819 (Isotype), status annotated by author
- Description
- Acacia grandifolia is a tree growing to 8 m tall. The bark is furrowed and dark brown in colour and the branchlets are very acutely angular and covered with dense grey, soft, silky hairs. The phyllodes are straight, 7.5 to 15 cm long and 25 to 75 mm wide, covered with spreading hairs. They are leathery and stiff and have 3 to 4 prominent yellowish main nerves running together near the base of each phyllode. There is one conspicuous basal gland. The inflorescences occur as spikes, which are 4 to 9.5 cm long, and golden in colour. The flower spikes grow in pairs from the axis of the upper phyllodes. The seed pods are 6 to 8 cm long and 5 to 6 mm wide and tomentose, slightly constricted between the seeds, but strongly raised over the seeds. The seeds are shiny, 4 to 5 mm long, 2 mm thick and longitudinal in shape. The funicle is pale yellow and folded several times beneath the seed (Pedley, 1978; Cowan, 2001).
Acacia grandifolia is closely related to and resembles A. longispicata and A. crassa. A. grandifolia can be distinguished from these species by having broader phyllodes that are 3 to 4 times as long as wide with very conspicuous vein reticulum on the phyllode, and the nerve islands less than 3 times as long as wide. The other two species have narrower phyllodes that are 4 to 18 times as long as wide with a vein reticulum that is not very conspicuous and the nerve islands more than 3 times as long as wide (QCRA/FRA, 1998). - Map
- View Map
- Distribution
- Acacia grandifolia is endemic to south east Queensland. It occurs in a restricted area between Mundubbera, Coalstoun Lakes and Proston in the Burnett Pastoral District. It covers a range of approximately 200 sq km and encompasses an area of occurrence of approximately 4200 sq km. The species is known from Beeron National Park and 6 State Forest areas (SF 210 Fty 702, SF 249 Fty 1693, SF 220 Fty 9980, SF 132 Fty 1348, SF 255 Fty 1025, SF 1344 Fty 1534) and on Brian Pastures Research Station. It is also recorded from leasehold land and road verges in the area. There is one record from the Dawson Range near Dingo approximately 250 km NW of the Mundubbera district (QCRA/FRA, 1998; Queensland Herbarium, 2011).
- Distributional limits
- -25.6014714, 151.1819444
-26.3624866, 152.0783334 - Range derivation
- Range derived from extent of the taxon's verified records
- Habitat
- Acacia grandifolia grows in hilly terrain on hillslopes of varying aspects and slope. The species also occurs on hillcrests, gullies and plains. Soil is usually shallow and well drained, and is described as sandy loam to clay loam in texture derived from sandstones and acidic volcanics. Altitudes are predominantly between 200 and 370 metres. The vegetation is tall woodland or open-forest with a range of floristic associations. The most frequently recorded tree species are Eucalyptus crebra, Corymbia citriodora, C. trachyphloia, E. maculata and E. exserta (QCRA/FRA, 1998; Queensland Herbarium, 2011).
- Behaviour
- Although little is known about the fire ecology of A. grandifolia it is suggested that fire plays an important role in the recruitment pattern of this species. There is no quantitative information available on this species' fire requirements. Anecdotal evidence indicates that this species proliferates in areas of disturbance (QCRA/FRA, 1998). Pedley (1978) commented that grazing of domestic cattle may restrict the establishment of Acacia seedlings.
- Reproduction
- Flowering has been observed from July to October. Fruits have been recorded from October to November (Queensland Herbarium, 2011).
- Threatening processes
- In recent years A. grandifolia has been observed to be very common at a number of localities within its restricted range. The species' continued existence in the wild in the short to medium term does not appear to be threatened. However, as there are no populations set aside for the conservation of the natural habitat, the species may be potentially threatened in the long term by the management of its habitat for other uses (Barjerm 1995).
Populations on freehold and leasehold land are potentially threatened by clearing for agricultural development and by grazing of domestic cattle. Acacia grandifolia does appear to respond favourably to some degree of habitat disturbance. However there is no information on the effect of varying levels of habitat disturbance. There is also evidence to suggest that selective harvesting does not create ideal conditions for the species as the disturbance is too intense and localised (Barker, 1995). There is a lack of ecological information about this species response to fire, therefore inappropriate fire regimes may also threaten A, grandifolia (QCRA/FRA, 1998). - Status notes
- Acacia grandifolia is listed as Vulnerable under the Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation Act 1999 and Least Concern under Queensland's Nature Conservation Act 1992
- Management recommendations
- No populations of A. grandifolia are known to be protected within conservation reserves. Negotiations should be undertaken with landowners or Department of Natural Resources to reserve at least some of the population. Other important considerations for management include an understanding how the species responds to different fire regimes and the effect of grazing of domestic cattle on the populations dynamics of A. grandifolia. (QCRA/FRA, 1998).
- Notes
- Occurs in the following Queensland pastoral districts: Burnett, Leichhardt (Bostock and Holland, 2010).
- References
- Bostock, P.D. and Holland, A.E. (eds) (2010). Census of the Queensland Flora 2010. Queensland Herbarium, Department of Environment and Resource Management, Brisbane.
Cowan, R.S. (2001). Acacia grandifolia, Flora of Australia Online. Australian Biological Resources Study, Canberra. Accessed 21/06/2012. http://www.environment.gov.au/biodiversity/abrs/online-resources/flora/main/index.html.
Pedley, L. (1978). A revision of Acacia Mill. In Queensland. Austrobaileya 1 (2):75-234.
Queensland CRA/RFA Steering Committee (QCRA/FRA) (1998). Survey of Threatened Plant Species in South East Queensland Biogeographical Region. Queensland Government and Commonwealth of Australia. [Online]. http://www.daff.gov.au/rfa/regions/qld/environment/threatened-plant.
Queensland Herbarium (2011). Specimen label information. Queensland Herbarium. Accessed 17/10/2011. - Profile author
- Lynise Wearne (28/06/2012)
Other resources
- Species Profile and Threats Database (SPRAT)
- The Australasian Virtual Herbarium (AVH)
- Atlas of Living Australia
Data source
This profile data is sourced from the QLD Wildlife Data API using the Get species by ID function used under CC-By 4.0.
https://apps.des.qld.gov.au/species/?op=getspeciesbyid&taxonid=11577.
This information is sourced from the WildNet database managed by the Queensland Department of Environment and Science.
