A new rare species of Acacia from north-east Victoria

Abstract

A new, rare wattle, Acacia daviesii sp. nov., known from only 10 populations discovered in mountainous, subalpine habitat in north-eastern Victoria, is described and illustrated. A comparative morphological study was undertaken, based on phyllode characters measured from all 10 known populations and herbarium specimens of the five most similar Acacia species: A. acinacea, A. aspera, A. glandulicarpa, A. gunnii and A. paradoxa. The new species has a pendulous habit and resinous phyllodes covered by stalked multicellular glands. Acacia daviesii forms clones by root suckering and seed set appears to be rare. Isozyme analysis based on nine enzyme systems showed that plants within any single population are genetically identical. Variation was detected between all but two populations with only nine known genotypes in an area of 12 km2.