Acacia argutifolia
# Acacia argutifolia

Acacia argutifolia, commonly known as the East Barrens wattle, is a shrub belonging to the genus Acacia and the subgenus Phyllodineae.

## Description

The low and spreading intricately branched shrub typically grows to a height of 0.2 to 0.7 metres (1 to 2 ft). It blooms from July to December and produces yellow flowers. The pungent phyllodes are mostly patent with a straight or shallowly recurved shape. They are trigonous-terete approximately 6 to 13 millimetres (0.24 to 0.51 in) in length and 1 mm (0.04 in) wide. The branchlets are puberulous to hirsutellous with 1.5 to 2 mm (0.06 to 0.08 in) long stipules. The inflorescences are simple with one per axil. The peduncles are 5 to 7 mm (0.20 to 0.28 in) long, the heads are globular containing 23 to 25 flowers that are pale yellow to cream in colour. Seed pods are biconvex and shallowly constricted between seeds. The pods are approximately 4 cm (1.57 in) long and 2 to 4 mm (0.08 to 0.16 in) wide and red-brown to dark brown in colour. The shrub is similar to Acacia simulans.

## Distribution

It is native to a small area in the Fitzgerald River National Park in Great Southern regions of Western Australia. It grows in shallow sand over quartzite among low open heath, shrubland and mallee communities.

## Classification

The species was first formally described by the botanist Bruce Maslin in 1976 as part of the work Studies in the genus Acacia (Mimosaceae) - Miscellaneous new phyllodinous species published in the journal Nuytsia. The only known synonym is Racosperma argutifolium as described by Leslie Pedley in 2003.

