Species profile—Acacia argentina
Classification
Plantae (plants) → Equisetopsida (land plants) → Leguminosae → Acacia argentina
Sighting data
Species details
- Kingdom
- Plantae (plants)
- Class
- Equisetopsida (land plants)
- Family
- Leguminosae
- Scientific name
- Acacia argentina Pedley
- WildNet taxon ID
- 31097
- Nature Conservation Act 1992 (NCA) status
- Vulnerable
- Conservation significant
- Yes
- Confidential
- No
- Endemicity
- Native
- Pest status
- Nil
- Short Notes
- Status annotated by author
- Description
- Acacia argentina is a shrub growing up to 4 m tall. The branchlets are terete and glaucous with a sparse to moderately dense indumentum extending to the leaf axis, with hairs 0.3 to 0.5 mm long. Stipules are absent and the young tips of the branchlets are silvery grey tinged with yellow. Acacia argentina has bipinnate leaves which are grey-green in colour and 8 to 24 mm long. Each bipinnate leaf has 2 or 3 pairs of pinnae, 13 to 20 mm long, each with 6 to 9 pairs of leaflets. There are two glands, the first is poorly defined and located between or slightly below the lowest pair of pinnae and the second is located between the most distant pinnae pair. Leaflets are oblong in shape, rounded at the base and tip, 6 to 9 mm long, 1.4 to 2.8 mm wide, 2.5 to 5 times longer than wide and rather thick. The mid-vein of the leaflets is obscure on the underside, and the margin is fringed with long hairs. The petiole is 0.5 mm long (Pedley, 2006).
The inflorescences are axillary racemes with up to 8 branches each terminated with yellow globular heads 5 mm diameter, each consisting of 20-24 flowers. The inflorescence axis is 4.5 cm long, peduncle 5-12 mm long and branches 3-5 mm long, each subtended by a 1 mm long bract. The pods have only been seen in the immature state (possible 6-8 weeks to maturity); they are linear, up to 6 cm long and have a covering of moderately stiff, longish hairs. Seeds have not been seen.
A. argentina is most similar to A. chinchillensis but differs considerably in having wider leaflets, usually taller stature, and more deeply divided calyx (Pedley, 2006). - Map
- View Map
- Distribution
- Acacia argentina is confined to four locations within sandstone areas in the upper catchment of creeks draining into the Dawson River north of Taroom. There are two populations found at Ruined Castle Creek catchment, Murphy Range; one population in Precipice NP and the other at Jarwood Station (just outside of Precipice NP) (Queensland Herbarium, 2011).
- Distributional limits
- -25.2148099, 149.451387
-25.3261944, 150.0238674 - Range derivation
- Range derived from extent of the taxon's confirmed records
- Habitat
- Acacia argentina occurs in open forest/woodland on sandstone. Associated species include Corymbia bunites, C. watsoniana subsp. watsoniana, Eucalyptus fibrosa subsp. fibrosa, Angophora leiocarpa and Lysicarpus angustifolius (Pedley, 2006; Queensland Herbarium, 2011). In Precipice NP, A. argentina is associated with E. acmenoides, E. crebra and Angophora leiocarpa. The species has also been found growing in E. melanophloia woodland (Queensland Herbarium, 2011).
- Reproduction
- A. argentina has been observed flowering in July and September, and young fruit has been observed in September (Queensland Herbarium, 2011).
- Threatening processes
- Potential threatening processes include destruction of habitat by timber harvesting and development, inappropriate grazing regime and inappropriate fire regimes. Given the small number of locations in which the species is found, it is highly prone to stochastic events.
- Status notes
- Acacia argentina is listed as Vulnerable under Queensland's Nature Conservation Act 1992
- Notes
- The species is found within the Leichhardt pastoral district (Queensland Herbarium 2011).
- References
- Pedley, L. (2006). Notes on Acacia Mill. (Leguminosae: Mimosoideae), chiefly from Queensland, 5. Austrobaileya 7 (2): 348.
Queensland Herbarium (2011). Specimen label information. Queensland Herbarium. Accessed 24/09/2011. - Profile author
- Lynise Wearne (21/06/2012)
Other resources
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=31097.
This information is sourced from the WildNet database managed by the Queensland Department of Environment and Science.
