Acacia cultriformis (Knife-leaf Wattle)

Knife-leaf Wattle, at Water Conservation Garden At Cuyamaca College, located in El Cajon, southern California.

Photograph by Stickpen. License: Public Domain. (view image details)

Acacia cultriformis at the Botanic Gardens of Barcelona

Photograph by Dinkum. License: Public Domain. (view image details)

Growth Characteristics information is sourced from: State Flora Catalog, Government of South Australia Licensed under Creative Commons CC BY 4.0 license.

KNIFE-LEAF WATTLE FACTS

distribution map showing range of Acacia cultriformis in Australia

Map is from The Atlas of Living Australia web site, licensed under Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 Australia License

Common Name
Knife-leaf Wattle

Other Names
Dogtooth wattle, Half-moon wattle, Golden-glow wattle

Description
The Knife-leaf Wattle is tree or shrub with upright or spreading habit growing to a height of about 4 m. The twigs are sometimes covered in a whitish bloom. The phyllodes green or grey-green and triangle-shaped, growing to about 3 cm long and 1.5 cm wide. The phyllodes are crowded along the stems. The plant flowers in late winter and spring from August to November. The bright yellow flowers are produced on flower spikes from 1 cm to 8 cm long. The seed pods are straight or slightly curved, about 3 cm to 10 cm long and about 0.5 cm wide. They are fairly flat, with bumps over the seeds. The seeds are black, shiny, about 4mm long and oblong shaped.

Habitat
It grows in Eucalyptus woodland in clay-loam or sandstone soils.

Distribution
Acacia cultriformis is found in central New South Wales and southern Queensland on the western slopes of the Great Dividing Range. It has also naturalised in New Zealand, Asia, Africa, North America and South America. The Knife-leaf Wattle is a popular garden plant.

Growth Characteristics
Height (m): 2 - 4
Spread (m): 2 - 4
Soil Texture: loam, clay
Soil pH: acid soils, neutral soils, alkaliine soils
Frost Sensitivity: resistant
Minimum Rainfall (mm): 450
Flower Colour: yellow
Flower Season: winter, spring

(source: SA State Flora Catalog)

Propagation
scarified seed

Wildlife Interest
attracts seed-eating and insect-eating birds

Classification

Class:	Magnoliopsida
Order:	Fabales
Family:	Mimosaceae
Genus:	Acacia
Species:	cultriformis
Common Name:	Knife-leaf Wattle

Relatives in same Genus
  Acacia acanthoclada
  Acacia acinacea
  Acacia acradenia
  Acacia aculeatissima
  Acacia alata
  Acacia amblygona
  Acacia amoena
  Acacia aneura
  Acacia aulacocarpa
  Acacia auriculiformis
  Acacia baileyana
  Acacia beckleri
  Acacia boormanii
  Acacia brachybotrya
  Acacia brachystachya
  Acacia buxifolia
  Acacia caesiella
  Acacia calamifolia
  Acacia cardiophylla
  Acacia chrysocephala
  Acacia cognata
  see A-Z list for more ...