About Acacia echinula DC.
Acacia echinula DC., commonly known as hedgehog wattle, is an intricately branched shrub that typically reaches a maximum height of 2 metres (7 feet). Its branchlets are covered in fine hairs. The species has phyllodes (flattened leaf stalks that function as leaves) that are fairly crowded, mostly sessile, and terete (cylindrical). These phyllodes are 5 to 14 millimetres (0.20 to 0.55 inches) long, 1.0 to 1.5 millimetres (0.039 to 0.059 inches) wide, rigid, and end in a sharp point. Flowers are arranged in spherical heads that grow from leaf axils, carried on a peduncle (flower stalk) 5 to 15 millimetres (0.20 to 0.59 inches) long. The flower heads are 5 to 10 millimetres (0.20 to 0.39 inches) in diameter, and hold between 27 and 42 mid-golden yellow flowers. Flowering occurs between July and September. After flowering, the species produces seed pods that grow up to 40 millimetres (1.6 inches) long and 4 to 5 millimetres (0.16 to 0.20 inches) wide. The pods are thinly leathery to crusty in texture and blackish in colour. The seeds inside the pods are oblong, 4 millimetres (0.16 inches) long, and dark brown. This wattle grows in sandy soil overlying sandstone, in habitats ranging from forest to heath. Its range is mostly between Nowra and Lake Macquarie in New South Wales, with one separate outlying population near Grafton.
