A shrub sometimes attaining a height of 9 ft in the wild but more commonly of low and spreading habit; branches stiff and angular. Phyllodes rigid, linear, ending in a sharp point, slightly tapered at the base, straight or sickle-shaped, up to 1 in. long, sometimes more, and 1⁄12 to 1⁄8 in. wide. Flower-heads globular, bright yellow, on stalks up to 1 in. long, usually borne two or three together in each leaf-axil.
Native of Tasmania, Victoria, and New South Wales; introduced in 1818. The low-growing form of this species, introduced from Tasmania by Comber (No. 1446), has proved to be one of the hardiest of the acacias. It flowers well each spring on a wall outside the Temperate House at Kew, and survived the winter of 1962-3.
A. juniperina (Vent.) Willd. Mimosa juniperina Vent. – A small shrub to 3 ft or so, found in Tasmania in coastal heaths and in E. Australia. It is allied to the preceding but differs in its phyllodes, which are broadest at the base, and in its pale yellow flower-heads, borne singly in the leaf-axils.