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Acacia armata R. Br.

Kangaroo Thorn

Modern name

Acacia paradoxa DC.

An evergreen shrub 10 ft or more high, of densely bushy shape; young shoots ribbed and usually more or less (sometimes very) bristly. ‘Leaves’ (phyllodes) in the form generally cultivated closely set on the twigs, obliquely oblong or linear-oblong with a curved point; 12 to 1 in. long, 18 to 14 in. wide; glabrous, dark green. Each joint of the twigs in the typical form is armed with a forked pair of needle­like spines 16 to 12 in. long which are really modified stipules, but these are often absent in cultivated forms. Flowers rich yellow, produced in balls 13 in. wide singly or in pairs, each ball on a slender stalk 13 to 34 in. long. Pod 112 to 2 in. long, 16 to 14 in. wide, softly silky. Bot. Mag., t. 1653.

Native of Australia where it is widespread, although absent from Tasmania; introduced in 1803. It is the best known and commonest of pot-grown or green­house acacias, requiring little winter heat and always flowering well in spring. It is cultivated out-of-doors, happiest against a wall, in various Cornish gardens. There are quite a number of forms in cultivation, varying chiefly in the size and shape of the phyllodes.

A. acinacea Lindl. – A closely allied species, differing mainly in its non-spiny stipules.


Genus

Acacia

Other species in the genus