Acacia longifolia (PROSEA)
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Introduction |
Acacia longifolia (Andr.) Willd.
- Family: Leguminosae - Mimosoideae
Synonyms
Mimosa longifolia Andr.
Vernacular names
- Sydney golden wattle, sallow (En).
Distribution
Native to extratropical eastern Australia and Tasmania. Widely cultivated in the Old World Tropics, e.g. in mountain regions of West Java and in Indo-China.
Uses
Planted for soil improvement, as a fast-growing cover crop and green manure. Useful as a nurse tree for establishing eucalypts on poor soil and for fixing dunes. It produces gum and the bark is suitable for tanning. Also a potential ornamental plant.
Observations
Erect, unarmed shrub or small tree, 3-10 m tall. Young branches sharply triangular, older ones with angular ribs. Phyllodes variable in shape and size, oblong-lanceolate to narrowly linear, 4-16 cm × 3-25 mm, with 1-5 main veins. Inflorescence a loose, interrupted, simple spike, 1-3 per leaf axil, 2-5 cm long; flowers 4-merous, yellow, fragrant. Pod linear, straight or somewhat curved, 2.5-15 cm × 5-6(-10) mm, constricted between the 3-11 seeds; funicle thickened, arilloid. In Australia A. elata occurs mainly near the coast. It is considered invasive and weedy in South Africa, where it was introduced to stabilize dunes. It can be successfully controlled biologically by pteromalid gall wasps and curculionid weevils.
Selected sources
8, 13, 51, 58, 70, 138.
Authors
M.S.M. Sosef & L.J.G. van der Maesen
