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4. Acacia cyclops
Botanical Name Acacia cyclops A. Cunn. ex G. Don (also spelled cyclopis)
Common Names western Australa coastal wattle, coastal wattle, circleeye-seeded
acacia (Australia); rooikrans (South Africa).
Legume Family, Leguminosae (Mimosoideae)
This Australian shrub or small tree of very dry areas is distinguished by the
small, narrowly oblong phyllodes, tiny flowers in balls, and long, narrow, flat,
curved pods. The specific name "cyclops" is from Greek, meaning "roundeyed,"
and apparently refers to the stalk around the seed. In Greek mythology
it was the name of a race of one-eyed giants. Cyclops is also the name of a
genus of tiny, free-swimming copepod crustaceans, known as "water fleas."
Acacia cyclops is a fuelwood species for arid and semiarid regions.
Description Bushy evergreen shrub 2-3 ni high, dense, often with many
stems; or a small tree to 8 in high, with trunk to 20 cm in diameter and
rounded crown; on exposed coasts, a wind-swept, hedgelike dwarf shrub of 50
cm. Twigs slender, angled, hairless.
Leaves alternate, simple flattened phyllodes (modified leafstalks) narrowly
oblong, 4.9 cm long, 5-13 mm wide, nearly straight, blunt with short, hard
point curved to side, tapering to long-pointed base, stiff and leathery, hairless,
with 3-7 main veins from base and 1 tiny gland on upper edge at base, light
green, shiny when young, pointed downward vertically.
Flowerclusters (heads)like balls, 1-3 on short stalks, up to 3 cm long at leaf
bases, 7 mm in diameter. Flowers about 40, crowded, very short-stalked, tiny,
about 3 mm long, composed of tubular 5-toothed hairy calyx, corolla of 5
separate petals, many threadlike stamens, pistil with narrow ovary and long
threadlike style.
Pods (legumes) narrowly oblong, 4-12 cm long, 8-12 mm wide, flattened,
curved or twisted, dark brown, remaining attached. Seeds several, beanlike,
elliptical, flattened, 5 mm long, dark brown, encircled by thick red threadlike
oily stalk.
Wood heavy, producing dense, small firewood pieces of high quality.
Natural Distribution Native of western Australia, found mostly on
coastal sand dunes. Altitude from sea level to 300 m.
Introduced into South Africa for stabilization of coastal dunes, popular there
for firewood. Goats and antelope browse foliage, wildlife eat seeds and their
oily stalk.
Climate and Soils Arid and semiarid subtropical with annual rainfall of
200-800 mam. Monthly mean temperatures from 31 0 C in summer to 5OC in
winter. Apparently there may be slight frosts. Varying soils from sands and
sand dunes to limestone.
Plants hardy but slow-growing, surviving in very dry areas and tolerating
salt spray, salinity, wind, sand blast, and frosts; however, intolerant of shade.
ACACIA CYCLOPS
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