Encyclopedia of Stanford Trees, Shrubs, and Vines

Acacia pravissima. Ovens Wattle. Victoria, New South Wales
LEGUMINOSAE (Pea family)

A small tree with slender weeping branches clothed with half-moon shaped phyllodes about ¼ to ½ inch long with a tiny mucro. 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. I 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.

Illustration: McMinn, Howard E. and Evelyn Maino. 1951. An illustrated manual of Pacific coast trees; with lists of trees recommended for various uses on the Pacific coast by H. W. Shepherd. 2d ed. Berkeley, Calif.: University of California Press.

Other campus Acacias: Acacia baileyana | Acacia dealbata | Acacia longifolia | Acacia melanoxylon | Acacia notes | Acacia pravissima | Acacia redolens | Acacia retinodes | Acacia verticillata

Illustrations (links open new windows): habit |

Name derivation, genus | species Greek akis, a sharp point | crooked (the phyllodes)

Botanical name index | Common name index | Family
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