Acacia pravissima Ovens wattle

Acacia pravissima leaves and fruit. From An Illustrated Manual of Pacific Coast Trees, Howard E. McMinn & Evelyn Maino

A small tree with slender weeping branches clothed with half-moon shaped phyllodes about ¼ to ½ inch long with a tiny mucro at the tip. The phyllodes resemble those of A. cultriformis but are clear green, not gray. There is a gland on the curved edge of the leaf, near the base.

A 20-foot specimen that flowered profusely from late winter until early summer died at age 30 (not unusual for wattles) in the Stanford Avenue greenbelt. Ron Bracewell visited the native haunt in the Ovens Valley and found abundant plants, few over 8 feet. As is noticeable elsewhere, a species that is a specialist at occupying a locally restricted, diffcult habitat may excel in other places where protected from competition.

Name derivation: Acacia – Greek akis, a sharp point; pravissima – crooked (the phyllodes).