46 



ACACIA spectabilis. 

 Showy Acacia. 



POLYGAMIA MONCECIA. 



Nat. ord. Leguminos^e, § Mimose^e. 

 ACACIA. Willd. 



Series II. Botrycephalae. Inermes, foliis bipinnatis, capitulis rar.emosii, 

 pedunculis solitariis. Benth. 



\. spectabilis (Cunningham) ; glaucescens, glabra v. ramulis petiolisque hir- 

 telHs, pinnis 2-5-jugis, glandula petiolari depressa obscura juganbus 

 nullis, foliolis4-8-jugis obovato-oblongis obtusissimis crassiuscuhs obscure 

 2-3-nerviis, capitulorum racemis folio longioribus supremis pamculatis, 

 floribus subglabris, calyce corolla dimidio breviore. Bentham in Hooker s 

 London Journal of Botany, 4. p. 383. 



Among 340 species of Acacia enumerated by Mr. Bentham 

 this is one of the finest; and it certainly is the very hand- 

 somest we have seen from New South Wales, beautitul as 

 many of them are. Unfortunately our means of publication 

 render it impossible to represent the softness and delicacy ot 

 surface which are among its principal characteristics, lne 

 leaves and branches are covered with the most delicate bloom, 

 and the flowers, produced in large masses at the end ot trie 

 shoots, are of the clearest and softest yellow. 



It is a native of Wellington Valley, and other places on 

 the East coast of New Holland, where it was found by the ate 

 Mr. Allan Cunningham and by Mr. Frazen Foi rite ; intro- 

 duction to this country we are indebted to H. Jt5. -Lott, «*q. 

 who presented it to Messrs. Lucombe, Pince & Co. ot ^xeter, 

 from whom we received a flowering specimen last April. 



It belongs to the same section of the genus as A. discolor 

 and dealbata, but is probably more decidedly a greenhouse 

 plant than they are.for it comes from the country to the north 



