A diversion
on our club outing to Sandisock (Sunday 05 August) gave us an opportunity to
look at a very uncommon wattle. Acacia
resinicostata grows in only a few disconnected places in Queensland - the
Djuan population we saw on our Sunday outing, another population near Karara,
and two populations in the Carn-arvon Range and the White Mountain National
Park between Charters Towers and Hughenden.
 |
| Acacia resinicostata buds |
This disjunct
population suggests that at some time in the very distant past, the ecosystem
between White Mountain and Karara provided opportunities for a continuous
population to spread. The plants we saw were waist to shoulder height. They
were in bud and may be showily in flower by the time you get this newsletter.
Angus Stewart recommends it as a garden plant.
“Resinicostata” refers to resin
and ribs. The branchlets, leaves and buds are covered in resin, with the ribs
of the branchlets being covered with tiny resiny lumps. (You need a magnifying
glass to see them well.)
For anyone who would like to look at the plants, head
north on the New England Highway through Crows Nest then take Emu Creek Road to
the right. Divert from there (another right turn) into Old Emu Creek Road.
There were some roadside plants on the right just past the dump.
No comments:
Post a Comment