Acacia menzelii

Tallebung wattle
Acacia menzelii (fig. 1-6)
Scientific classification
Kingdom:	Plantae
Clade:	Tracheophytes
Clade:	Angiosperms
Clade:	Eudicots
Clade:	Rosids
Order:	Fabales
Family:	Fabaceae
Subfamily:	Caesalpinioideae
Clade:	Mimosoid clade
Genus:	Acacia
Species:	A. menzelii
Binomial name
Acacia menzelii J.M.Black
Occurrence data from AVH

Acacia menzelii, commonly known as Tallebung wattle or Menzel's wattle, is a shrub belonging to the genus Acacia and the subgenus Plurinerves native to a small area of southern Australia.

Description

The shrub typically grows to a height of 2 metres (6.6 ft) and has compact, rounded and spreading habit. It has sparsely hairy branchlets that branch off near ground level forming a number of ascending stems . The flat, green, terete phyllodes have a linear shape and can be straight or incurved. The phyllodes have a length of 1.5 to 4 cm (0.59 to 1.57 in) and a width of 0.5 to 1 mm (0.020 to 0.039 in) and have six brownish nerves.

Taxonomy

The specific epithet honours O.E.Menzel, a botanist who collected the type specimen near Monarto in 1897. The shrub is part of the Acacia wilhelmiana group along with nine close relatives: Acacia abrupta, Acacia ascendens, Acacia barattensis, Acacia brachypoda, Acacia cowaniana, Acacia helmsiana, Acacia leptalea, Acacia gracilifolia and Acacia viscifolia.

Distribution

The shrub is scattered in an area of South Australia in the Murray region around Monarto and in the Flinders Range is often situated in gorges or on rocky hillsides growing in brown to grey calcareous loamy soils as a part of scrubby Eucalyptus woodland communities.

See also

• List of Acacia species