Acacia vestita hairy wattle

Acacia vestita at Manzanita Field. Sairus Patel, 21 Feb 2022

Acacia vestita flower and leaves, Campus Drive. Sairus Patel, 3 Mar 2019

A gracefully weeping habit distinguishes this large shrub, introduced to campus in recent years. Vestita means “clothed,” an allusion to the soft fuzz that covers the branchlets and phyllodes, which are about ⅓ inch long and usually narrower than those of A. cultriformis, and which make the delicate branchlets irresistible to stroke in passing. Bright yellow flowers smother the plants in February.

Several were planted in 2013 on Campus Drive near the Knight Management Center garage ramp, opposite the Maples Pavilion parking lot, with more following in the Campus Drive median there. Others followed in 2021, after the construction of the underground garage at Manzanita Field – some at the bike parking on Campus Drive, and several at the playing courts on the south, set among a lively throng of fellow Australians.

Acacia vestita on Campus Drive. Sairus Patel, 3 Mar 2019