Acacia pycnantha

Acacia pycnantha subsp. var.	Golden wattle
	Habit: tree Height: ⇕ to Width: ⇔ to 10ft25ft 15ft Height: ⇕ 10 ft to 25 ft Width: ⇔ warning.png"" cannot be used as a page name in this wiki. to 15 ft Lifespan: ⌛ perennial Origin: ✈ Poisonous: ☠ Bloom: ❀ early spring, mid spring, late spring, early winter, mid winter, late winter	Exposure: ☼ sun Water: ◍ Features: ✓ flowers, fragrance Hidden fields, interally pass variables to right place Minimum Temp: ☃ °Fwarning.png"°F" is not a number. USDA Zones: 9 to 11 Sunset Zones: Flower features: ❀ orange, yellow
	Fabaceae > Acacia pycnantha var. ,

Golden Wattle (Acacia pycnantha) is Australia's floral emblem. It is a tree which flowers in late winter and spring, producing a mass of fragrant, fluffy, golden flowers.

The species grows to between 2 and 8 metres in height with generally smooth, dark brown to grey bark. The mature trees do not have true leaves but have long, sickle-shaped phyllodes. These are shiny and dark green and are between 8 and 20 cm long and 0.5 to 3.5 cm wide. The rounded inflorescences are bright yellow and occur in axillary racemes or terminal panicles in groupings of between 4 and 23. These are followed by flattish, straight or slightly curved pods which are 5 to 14 cm long and 0.5 to 0.8 cm wide.

Golden Wattle is cultivated in Australia and was introduced to the northern hemisphere in the mid 1800s. Although it is short lived, it is widely grown for its bright yellow, fragrant flowers. The species has a degree of frost tolerance and is adaptable to a wide range of soil conditions, however it prefers good drainage. Propagation is from seed which has been pre-soaked in hot water to soften the hard seed coating.

Standard Cyclopedia of Horticulture

Acacia pycnantha,Benth. (A. petiolaris, Lehm.). Golden Wattle. Broad-leaved Wattle. A small tree with more or less pendulous branchlets: phyll. pinniveined, oblong-lanceolate to falcate-lanceolate or even broadly obovate, 2 1/2-6 in. long, 3/4-1 1/2 in. wide, 1-nerved, the nerve more or less excentric; gland 1/2-3/4 in. from base: racemes either simple or compound, large-fld., fragrant and showy, often bending the tree with its weight of bloom; 50-60 fls. in a head with peduncles 1/8in. long; sepals 5, ciliate, almost as long as petals: pods varying, 2-4 1/2 or 5 in. long, 1/4in. wide, contracted and slightly constricted between the seeds and with nerve-like margins; funicle whitish, club-shaped, not folded, half as long as seed or occasionally folded and transverse to the seed; ripe Aug. Fls. Feb., March. Maiden Wattles and Wattlebark, p. 39. R.H. 1896, p. 504 Brown, For. Flora of S. Austral.—The name "broad-leaved" is derived from its reference to the seedling lvs., which are of great size, sometimes 5 in. long and 4 in. wide. The bark contains the highest percentage of tannin of any of the species, but the tree does not attain the size of A. decurrens, and hence so great a quantity is not obtained from any one tree. It is made into perfume, exudes a good gum, and is used as a sand-binder. CH The above text is from the Standard Cyclopedia of Horticulture. It may be out of date, but still contains valuable and interesting information which can be incorporated into the remainder of the article. Click on "Collapse" in the header to hide this text.

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  Golden Wattle in full flower

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  photo 3

References

• Standard Cyclopedia of Horticulture, by L. H. Bailey, MacMillan Co., 1963

External links

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