Coast myall | |
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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. binervia
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Binomial name | |
Acacia binervia | |
Occurrence data from AVH |
Acacia binervia, commonly known as the coast myall, is a wattle native to New South Wales and Victoria. It can grow as a shrub or as a tree reaching 16 m in height. [1] This plant is reportedly toxic to livestock as the foliage ( phyllodes) contain a glucoside which can produce hydrogen cyanide if cut. [1]
German botanist Johann Christoph Wendland first described this species as Mimosa binervia in 1798, [2] before American botanist James Francis Macbride reclassified it in the genus Acacia in 1919. [3] Common names include coast myall and rosewood. [3] Acacia glaucescens is an illegitimate name. [4]
Acacia binervia grows as a shrub to small tree anywhere from 2 to 16 m (6.6 to 52.5 ft) high. The bark is dark brown to grey in colour, and the elliptic to sickle-shaped (falcate) phyllodes are 6–15 cm (2.4–5.9 in) in length and 0.5–2.3 cm (0.20–0.91 in) wide. The cylindrical yellow flowers appear in spring (August to October). [1] Flowering is followed by the development of 6–8 cm long seed pods, which are ripe by December. [5]
Acacia binervia is found in central New South Wales from the Hunter Region south, and to Bungonia in the southwest, and continuing south into Victoria. [1] In the Sydney basin, it grows on a variety of soils and associated plant communities—alluvial soils, sandstone-, shale- or trachyte-based soils, generally with good drainage. It grows in dry sclerophyll forest, associated with such species as yellow bloodwood ( Corymbia eximia), grey gum ( Eucalyptus punctata), narrow-leaved ironbark ( E. crebra), mugga ironbark ( E. sideroxylon), or more open woodland with narrow-leaved ironbark and black cypress pine ( Callitris endlicheri), and riparian (riverbank) forest with river peppermint ( E. elata) and gossamer wattle ( Acacia floribunda). [5]
Acacia binervia regenerates from bushfire by a soil-borne seedbank, the seeds germinate and grow after fire while adult plants are killed. The frequency of fire for the cycle to persist is anywhere from 10 to 50 years. [5] It is useful to bees in the honey industry. [5]
For the Dharawal people, the flowering of Acacia binervia was used as a seasonal indicator of the presence of fish in bays and estuaries. [6]