Flora of New Zealand Series

gossamer wattle

Shrub to small tree; twigs sharply angled, ± glabrous to densely hairy. Lvs reduced to phyllodes, alternate; phyllodes glabrous, linear, symmetric or curved, acute and shortly mucronate or obtuse, entire, (30)-40-80-(120) × 3-8-(10) mm, usually with 3 prominent veins; stipules lanceolate, c. 1 mm long or inconspicuous in mature plants. Fls 4-merous, numerous and solitary in axillary, medium to pale yellow, cylindric spikes; spikes < or = lvs. Pod glabrous, somewhat curved, 50-100 × c. 4 mm; aril not much folded, thickened and cup-shaped below seed.

N.: above lower Huia Dam (W. Auckland), established in coastal Wellington Province at Paraparaumu, Pukerua Bay, and Plimmerton.

E. Australia 1981

Roadside banks and waste places.

FL Aug-Sep.

Gossamer wattle has previously been known in N.Z. as Acacia floribunda.