Acacia anomala, Family Mimosaceae, also known as Grass Wattle and Chittering Grass Wattle, is a spindly rush-like shrub, up to 45 cm tall, with several slender, dull green stems arising from near the base. The lower stems are usually circular in cross-section, while the upper stems have distinct wings, up to 2 mm wide. Juvenile leaves have few pairs of leaflets. Sharply pointed phyllodes (flattened leaf stalks that resemble leaves) up to 10 cm long and 7 mm wide, are scattered or absent. Numerous tiny yellow flowers are clustered into cylindrical flower heads, up to 2.5 cm long and 1 cm across, on short stalks. The flower heads are solitary at the nodes. This species is quite distinctive. It has some resemblance to Willdenow’s Wattle (Acacia willdenowiana), which has stems with wide wings and globular (rather than cylindrical) flower heads. Flowering occurs from August to September.
Grass Wattle |
Acacia anomala
Status: Vulnerable on the EPBC Act list
Chittering Grass Wattle
Government evidence of impact of climate change:
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Australian Government, Conservation Advice, Acacia anomala
The main potential threat to Grass Wattle is inappropriate fire regimes.