r.1 - part

Related Species The scientific and common names of three related
Australian species have been confused. At one time all were classed as
varieties of Acacia decurrens. Their names and distinguishing characters
follow.
-Acacia decurrens Willd. (A. decurrens var. decurrens and var. normalis),
called green wattle (black wattle) or king wattle, native of New South Wales.
Hairless foliage or young shoots slightly hairy. Leaflets long and narrow, 6-10
mm. Bright yellow flowers in late winter. Pods 5-10 cm long, less than 1cm
wide, slightly contracted between seeds.
-Acacia dealbataLink (A.decurrens var. dealbata (Link) Muell.), silver wattle,
native of New South Wales, Tasmania, and Victoria. Small tree to 10 m
high. Hairy foliage silvery gray or whitish from mealy powder. Leaflets 3-6
mm long, without glands along axis. Pale lemon yellow flowers in winter.
Pods more than 1cm broad, not contracted between seeds, whitish. Scientific
name means "white-powdered."
-Acacia mearnsii De Wild. (A. decurrens var. mollis Lindl., A. rnollissima
auct.), black wattle (green wattle). Small to large tree 6-25 m high. Foliage soft,
hairy; young twigs golden yellow, hairy. Leaflets 3 mm long, blunt, shorter
and broader than A. decurrens. Pale yellow flowers in summer (October-
December) in Australia. Pods as in A. decurrens. Bark blackish.
The name Acacia mollissinia, under which this species was known for many
years, is rejected as a synonym of A. pubescens (Vent) Ait. f., a different
Australian shrub. Acacia rnearnsii,the name now accepted, was given in 1925
to a specimen obtained in Kenya in 1909 and thought to be native. Edgar Alexander
Mearns (1856-1916), physician and naturalist of the United States Army,
collected botanical specimens on field trips to Africa with Theodore Roosevelt
in 1909 and 1911-12, along the Mexican border in 1892-94, and in the Philippines
in 1906-07.
References
Brenan, J. P. M., and R. Melville. 1960. The Latin name of the black wattle.
Kew Bulletin 14:37-39, illus.
Lindley, John. 1819. Acacia decurrens. g ,nollis. Edward's Botanical Register,
vol. 5. Illus. (pl. 371, drawing used here).
Maiden, J. 11. 1907. The forest flora of New South Wales, vol. 3. p. 47. Illus.
(pl. 88, fig. D-G, as A. decurrens var. inollis, drawing used here).
Purseglove, J. W. 1968. Tropicalcrops: Dicotyledons 1. Illus. Longmans, Green
& Co. Ltd. (John Wiley and Sons, Inc., New York). (Acacia mearnsii, pp.
210-15).
ACACIA MEARNSII
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