Acacia myrtifolia (Myrtle Wattle)

Myrtle Wattle

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

Acacia myrtifolia, Barrenjoey Lighthouse track

Photograph by Margaret Donald from Sydney. Some rights reserved. (view image details)

Acacia myrtifolia , Myrtle wattle, has globular flowers and red stems. Heathcote National Park, NSW

Photograph by John Tann from Sydney. Some rights reserved. (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.

MYRTLE WATTLE FACTS

distribution map showing range of Acacia myrtifolia in Australia

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

Common Name
Myrtle Wattle

Other Names
Red stem wattle, Red-stemmed wattle, Bitter Leaf

Description
Myrtle Wattle is a small, bushy shrub that grows to about 3 m in height. It has smooth grey bark. The green phyllodes are slightly curved and narrow elliptic in shape, growing 2 cm to 12 cm long and 0.5 cm to 3 cm wide. New growth is reddish. Cream white or pale-yellow flowers are produced in winter and spring. The flower clusters have about 3 to 30 flower heads. Each flower head is spherical with a diameter of 6 mm to 13 mm. The curved seed pods grow 4 cm to 7 cm in length. The shiny brown seeds are oblong and about 4 mm long.

Habitat
open forest, woodlands scrub, heathland

Distribution
Myrtle Wattle is found in coastal and near-coastal areas of south east Queensland, eastern New South Wales, Victoria, south eastern South Australia, south west Western Australia, Tasmania.

Growth Characteristics
Height (m): 1 - 2
Spread (m): 1 - 2
Soil Texture: loam, clay
Soil pH: soils with pH less than 8
Frost Sensitivity: moderately sensitive
Minimum Rainfall (mm): 500
Flower Colour: yellow
Flower Season: 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:	myrtifolia
Common Name:	Myrtle 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 ...