Acacia dealbata silver wattle

Acacia dealbata (trunk on left), Lomita Drive. Sairus Patel, 16 Feb 2018

Leaf of Acacia dealbata, west side of Lake Lagunita. John Rawlings

The brilliant yellow displays in February and March, which distinctly precede the coming of spring and add color to winter’s end, are mainly from this species.

The silvery-gray feathery leaves are bipinnately compound: they are divided into a dozen or so pinnae each with three dozen or so pinnules about ⅙ inch long. See raised glands on the upper surface of the leaf’s main axis at the junction of each pair of pinnae.

The leaf stalks run on as fine, angular ridges on the branch. The much rarer green wattle (A. decurrens), unknown around here, has dramatically angular or winged ridges; its leaves are not silvery but rather an ordinary green.

A large silver wattle is just north of Museum Drive, between Palm Drive and Lasuen Street, within the relocated pool from the old men’s gym; note the foundation stones of the columns nearby. One on Campus Drive at the southeast corner with Lomita Drive, near the Anderson Collection, fell down in 2023 and may be resprouting. Substantial numbers can be found in the area of Frenchman’s and Gerona Roads.

Silver wattle is an invasive weed in Bear and San Francisquito creeks in Jasper Ridge Biological Preserve and along other campus waterways.

Acacia dealbata compound leaf and fruit. John Rawlings

Illustrations: Jasper Ridge plant photo archive.

Name derivation: Acacia – Greek akis, a sharp point; dealbata – whitened (young shoots and leaves).