Species profile—Acacia barakulensis
Classification
Plantae (plants) → Equisetopsida (land plants) → Leguminosae → Acacia barakulensis
Sighting data
Species details
- Kingdom
- Plantae (plants)
- Class
- Equisetopsida (land plants)
- Family
- Leguminosae
- Scientific name
- Acacia barakulensis Pedley
- WildNet taxon ID
- 2299
- Alternate name(s)
- Waajie wattle
- Nature Conservation Act 1992 (NCA) status
- Vulnerable
- Conservation significant
- Yes
- Confidential
- No
- Endemicity
- Native
- Pest status
- Nil
- Short Notes
- BRI 125036, handwriting of author
- Description
- Acacia barakulensis is a shrub growing to 4 m tall. The branchlets are brown in colour, resinous, ribbed, and sparsely pubescent. The stipules are persistent and resemble bristles or hairs 0.3 to 0.6 mm long. The phyllodes occur on short projections from the ribs of the branchlets, often in crowded pseudowhorls. The phyllodes are erect, more or less terete and straight, irregularly tuberculate, with a few hairs, 10 to 28 mm long and 0.6 to 1 mm thick. On the abaxial and adaxial surfaces there is an inconspicuous yellow nerve (when dry), with a distinct lateral furrow between them and usually some obscure longitudinal folds. On the tip of the phyllodes is an oblique (sometimes perpendicular) mucro, with a single minute gland behind. At the base of the stem is a pulvinus (stalk) 0.5 to 1 mm long. The inflorescences are deep yellow globular heads occurring singly in the upper axils, 9 mm in diameter and made up of 25 to 35 flowers. Peduncles are 6 to 10 mm long, glabrous or minutely hairy with an ebracteate base. The pods are brown in colour, linear, straight, slightly contracted between the seeds and slightly convex over them, up to 40 mm long and 4 mm wide. They can be rather chartaceous, resinous and reticulately nerved with prominent marginal nerves. The seeds are brown, longitudinal, 3.7 to 4.2 mm long and 2 to 2.4 mm wide. The areole is dark brown and the aril is clavate.
The nearest relative of A. barakulensis is A. burbidgeae but it is most readily distinguished by its shorter phyllodes (A. burbidgeae phyllodes are 15 to 40 mm) with usually more oblique mucro and its inflorescence heads occur on a longer peduncle (Lithgow 1997; Pedley 1999; Queensland Herbarium, 2011). - Map
- View Map
- Distribution
- There are approximately 13 populations of Acacia barakulensis recorded within the north-west portion of Barakula State Forest north of Chinchilla. The species has been documented as locally common but restricted (Queensland Herbarium, 2011).
- Distributional limits
- -26.1445322, 150.3341568
-26.1761111, 150.3444347 - Range derivation
- Range derived from extent of the taxon's verified records
- Habitat
- Acacia barakulensis occurs on yellowish sandy soils, described as pale loamy-sand over sandstone (Marburg Formation-sandstone). The species grows in similar habitat to the more common A. gittinsii, consisting of tall shrubland with Eucalypt emergents or shrubby woodland with Acacia sp. (e.g. probably A. johnsonii var. althoferi). Associated species include Eucalyptus tenuipes, Corymbia trachyphloia, Calytrix gurulmundensis, and Triodia mitchellii (Queensland Herbarium, 2011).
- Reproduction
- There is limited information on the ecology of A. barakulensis. The species has been observed flowering from August to September and pods have been collected in November (Queensland Herbarium, 2011).
- Threatening processes
- Given the isolated distribution of A. barakulensis and the requirement of fire for germination by many acacias, threats include inappropriate fire regimes. In addition the species does not occur within any protected areas, therefore other threats include logging of habitat and the surrounds; and stochastic events causing localised extinction due to its restricted distribution.
- Status notes
- Acacia barakulensis is listed as Vulnerable under Queensland's Nature Conservation Act 1992
- Management recommendations
- There are no documented management recommendations in the literature. However recommendations from similar species include varying the interval between prescribed burns between 6-30 years; establish protective buffers of at least 0.25 ha with A. barakulensis at least 25 m inside the protective barrier, and monitor the impacts of grazing and adjust management accordingly (Barker 1995; DSEWPC 2008).
- Notes
- Occurs in the following Queensland pastoral districts: Burnett, Darling Downs, Leichhardt (Queensland Herbarium 2011).
- References
- Barker, M. (1995). Acacia calantha Species Management Profile, Department of Natural Resources, Queensland.
Department of Sustainability, Environment, Water, Population and Communities (DSEWPC) (2008). Acacia handonis in Species Profile and Threats Database, Department of Sustainability, Environment, Water, Population and Communities, Canberra. Accessed 19/07/2011. http://www.environment.gov.au/sprat.
Lithgow, G. (1997). Sixty Wattles of the Chinchilla and Murilla Shires, M.G. Lithgow, Chinchilla, Queensland.
Pedley, L. (1999). Notes on Acacia (Leguminosae: Mimosoideae) chiefly from northern Australia. Austrobaileya 5 (2): 308.
Queensland Herbarium (2011). Specimen label information. Queensland Herbarium. Accessed 24/09/2011. - Profile author
- Lynise Wearne (19/04/2012)
Other resources
Data source
This profile data is sourced from the QLD Wildlife Data API using the Get species by ID function used under CC-By 4.0.
https://apps.des.qld.gov.au/species/?op=getspeciesbyid&taxonid=2299.
This information is sourced from the WildNet database managed by the Queensland Department of Environment and Science.
