Acacia nyssophylla F.Muell.

Scientific Name and Growth Form

Acacia nyssophylla F.Muell. is an intricate, prickly shrub that typically grows to between 0.5 and 3 metres (2 to 10 ft) in height. It has hairless branchlets that leave scars where phyllodes have detached.

Phyllode Presence

Like most Acacia species, it has phyllodes instead of true leaves. These evergreen phyllodes attach to yellow stem projections.

Phyllode Texture and Shape

They are pungent, rigid, dull, and glabrous, ranging from straight to shallowly curved.

Phyllode Dimensions and Veins

They measure 15 to 35 mm (0.59 to 1.38 in) long, around 1.5 mm (0.059 in) wide, and have around 20 obscure veins.

Flowering Period

It blooms from July to October, and sometimes as late as November.

Inflorescence and Flower Characteristics

It produces simple inflorescences that usually grow in pairs in the axils, with spherical to ellipsoidal flower-heads 3.5 to 6 mm (0.14 to 0.24 in) in diameter, containing 12 to 19 golden flowers.

Seed Pod Shape

After flowering, it forms firmly chartaceous, linear seed pods that are slightly constricted between individual seeds, and range from curved to once-coiled.

Seed Pod Dimensions and Veins

The glabrous pods are 3 to 6.5 cm (1.2 to 2.6 in) long, 2 to 5 mm (0.079 to 0.197 in) wide, and have longitudinal veins.

Seed Characteristics

Inside the pods are glossy black seeds with a lanceolate-oblong or oblong-elliptic shape, 4 to 5 mm (0.16 to 0.20 in) long, with a large orange or yellow aril.

Native Range in Western Australia

This species is native to the Wheatbelt and Goldfields-Esperance regions of Western Australia.

Broader Native Distribution

Its native range extends through South Australia to extreme north-western Victoria; north from South Australia to near Alice Springs in the Northern Territory; and to western New South Wales near Bourke.