Acacia alpina


Acacia alpina is an evergreen shrub that is endemic to south eastern Australia.

Description

The shrub typically grows to a height of to around wide and has a tangled appearance. The branchlets tha caducous deltate stipules. The evergreen phyllodes have an obovate or suborbicular shape are usually asymmetrical with a length of and a width of. The inflorescences occur on twinned or solitary flower-spikes with an oblong or cylindrical shape and a length of. Following flowering thin walled seed pods that resemble a string of beads and are curved or coiled with a length of and a width of. The pods contain narrowly elliptic seeds with a length of.

Distribution

The shrub has a disjunct distribution and is found in the Snowy Mountains of New South Wales and southern parts of the Australian Capital Territory with a range that continues further south to around Mount Baw Baw in the eastern Victorian highlands. It is found in hilltops and ranges and plateaus with an altitude of. It is often situated in granitic and windswept areas and sometimes forms dense thickets. It is often a part of woodland and heathlands communities.
It is a close relative of Acacia phlebophylla and they tend to hybridize. It often can be found in alpine and subalpine areas of Australia.
A. alpina flowers from October to November.
In gardening it is used as "ground cover."