Acacia penninervis Sieber ex DC.

Scientific Name

Acacia penninervis Sieber ex DC.

Description

Growth Habit

Acacia penninervis is typically a shrub or tree that grows to a height of 2 to 8 m (6 ft 7 in to 26 ft 3 in), with an erect to spreading growth habit.

Bark Features

It has finely to deeply fissured bark, which is usually dark grey in colour.

Branchlet Characteristics

Its glabrous branchlets are more or less terete, and are occasionally covered in a fine white powdery coating.

Phyllode Traits

Like most Acacia species, Acacia penninervis has phyllodes instead of true leaves. These glabrous, evergreen phyllodes are narrowly oblanceolate or narrowly elliptic in shape, straight to slightly curved, and measure 5 to 15 cm (2.0 to 5.9 in) long and 7 to 40 mm (0.28 to 1.57 in) wide.

Vein Structure

They have a prominent midvein, marginal veins, and fine penniveining.

Flowering

This plant produces pale yellow flowers year-round.

Distribution

Native Range

It is native to the Australian states and territory of Australian Capital Territory, New South Wales, Queensland, and Victoria, and has been introduced to both the North Island and South Island of New Zealand.

Autonymic Variety Range

The autonymic variety Acacia penninervis var. penninervis occurs in the same Australian jurisdictions.

longiracemosa Variety Range

The variety Acacia penninervis var. longiracemosa is found in coastal districts of southern Queensland and northern New South Wales.

Uses

Common Names

The 1889 publication The Useful Native Plants of Australia records that this species has common names including "Hickory" and "Blackwood".

Traditional Fish-Catching Use

It notes that "The bark (and, according to some, the leaves) of this tree was formerly used by the aboriginals of southern New South Wales for catching fish. They would throw them into a waterhole whereupon the fish would rise to the top and be easily caught.

Toxicity Note

Neither the leaves nor bark contain strictly poisonous substances, but, like the other species of Acacia, they would be deleterious, owing to their astringency."

Modern Uses

This species is used for environmental management.

Bark Tannin Content

The tannin content of its bark is approximately 18%.