Acacia pruinosa (PROSEA)

Plant Resources of South-East Asia Introduction

List of species

Acacia pruinosa A. Cunn. ex Benth.

Family: Leguminosae - Mimosoideae

Synonyms

• Racosperma pruinosum (A. Cunn. ex Benth.) Pedley.

Vernacular names

• Frosty wattle (En).

Distribution

Australia (New South Wales, Queensland). Occasionally cultivated elsewhere, e.g. in West Java.

Uses

Occasionally grown for firewood in the mountains of West Java. No significance as fodder.

Observations

• Unarmed shrub up to 2 m tall. Branchlets terete, glabrous.
• Leaves bipinnate; petiole 3-5(-7) cm long with a gland in the distal half; rachis 2-7 cm long, reddish, glabrous, with glands at the junction of all or only the proximal pair of pinnae; pinnae 2-3(-4) pairs, 4-8 cm long; leaflets opposite, sessile, 8-13 pairs, oblong, 9-17 mm × 2-4 mm, obtuse, glabrous.
• Inflorescence a pale yellow head with 20-30 flowers, aggregated in terminal panicles or arising from the upper leaf axils.
• Pod strap-shaped, short-stalked, 5-8 cm × 0.8 cm, slightly constricted between the seeds, glaucous.
• Seed 5 mm × 3 mm, funicle expanded into a cupular aril.

In Australia A. pruinosa grows on sandy soils derived from granite.

Selected sources

• Backer, C.A. & Bakhuizen van den Brink Jr., R.C., 1963-1968. Flora of Java. 3 volumes. Wolters-Noordhoff, Groningen, the Netherlands. 647, 641, 761 pp.
• Bailey, L.H. & Bailey, E.Z., 1976. Hortus third: a concise dictionary of plants cultivated in the United States and Canada. MacMillan, New York, United States. 1290 pp.
• Flora Malesiana (various editors), 1950-. Series 1. Volume 1, 4-. Kluwer, Dordrecht & Flora Malesiana Foundation, Leiden, the Netherlands.
• Hacker, J.B., 1990. A guide to herbaceous and shrub legumes of Queensland. University of Queensland Press, St. Lucia, Australia. 351 pp.

Authors

• M.S.M. Sosef & L.J.G. van der Maesen