A shrub or small tree to about 20 ft, of graceful habit, with slender, angled branchlets. Phyllodes set densely on the stem, 1⁄4 to 1⁄2 in. long and wide, triangular-obovate or unequally four-angled; venation prominent. Flower-heads rich yellow, globular, only 1⁄6 in. or so wide, arranged in long compound racemes. Flowering time March to April.
Native of Victoria and New South Wales. There is a good example of this acacia at Ilnacullin (Garinish Island), Co. Cork, about 24 ft high. At Malahide Castle, near Dublin, it proved hardy in the winters of 1961-3 and is now some 12 ft high on a garden wall. It is remarkable for its very lop-sided phyllodes, set edgeways to the shoot.
A. cultriformis G. Don Knife-Leaf Wattle. – An allied species, distinguished by its silvery-grey, triangular phyllodes. It is probably very tender, but according to Thurston was once grown out-of-doors at St Michael’s Mount. Native of New South Wales and Queensland. Bot. Mag., n.s., t. 322.
A. podalyriifolia G. Don queensland silver wattle. – A very beautiful species growing to 10 ft high or more; shoots white-downy at first. Phyllodes silvery-glaucous, downy, oval to ovate, 1 to 11⁄2 in. long, slightly oblique. Flower-heads fragrant, golden yellow, borne in winter and early spring in long racemes. It is fairly hardy in Cornwall and, with its various forms and hybrids, is much cultivated on the French Riviera. Bot. Mag., t. 9604.