Common name: woolly-bear wattle, Lucas's wattle
Acacia lucasii Blakely APNI* Synonyms: Racosperma lucasii (Blakely) Pedley APNI*
Description: Erect or spreading shrub 0.5–3.5 m high; branchlets ± terete, densely hairy (rusty on new growth, aging silvery).
Phyllodes elliptic to narrowly elliptic or lanceolate, sometimes oblong-elliptic, straight or slightly curved, 1.5–3.5 cm long, 6–15 mm wide, hairy, margins often slightly undulate, midvein and marginal veins prominent, lateral veins obscure, apex obtuse with a mucro, base sometimes asymmetric; 1 minute gland 0–8 mm above pulvinus; pulvinus 1–3 mm long.
Inflorescences simple or 5–10 in an axillary raceme; axis 2–5 cm long; peduncles 1–5 mm long, densely hairy with crisped hairs; heads ± ovoid to globose, 5–10 mm long/diam., 20–30-flowered, bright yellow.
Pods ± straight, ± flat, ± straight-sided, 2.5–4 cm long, 8–13 mm wide, thinly leathery to brittle, rusty brown velvety; seeds transverse or oblique; funicle filiform or expanded towards seed.
Flowering: August–November.
Distribution and occurrence: on the escarpment ranges east of Cooma. Grows in dry sclerophyll forest or woodland.
NSW subdivisions: ST
Other Australian states: Vic.
Related to Acacia costiniana which has smaller and undulate phyllodes and long stipules. Named after Arthur Henry Shakespeare Lucas (1853-1936), a former teacher in Melbourne, Headmaster of Sydney Grammar School and Acting Professor of Mathematics at the University of Tasmania. (N. Hall and L.A.S. Johnson, The Names of Acacias of New South Wales, 1993).
Text by P.G. Kodela (last updated June 2012)
Taxon concept: M.D. Tindale (1980)
APNI* Provides a link to the Australian Plant Name Index (hosted by the Australian National Botanic Gardens) for comprehensive bibliographic data
***The AVH map option provides a detailed interactive Australia wide distribution map drawn from collections held by all major Australian herbaria participating in the Australian Virtual Herbarium project.
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