safford: new bull-horn acacias 359 



Acacia gladiata Safford, sp. nov. Group Mesopodiales, section 

 Clavigerae. Flower spikes club-shaped, resembling those of Acacia 

 Standleyi but much smaller, 10 to 16 mm. long, 4 to 5 mm. thick, densely 

 pubescent before anthesis; peduncles in clusters of 2 to 6, the longest 

 observed 13 mm. in length, pubescent with short straight cinereous 

 hairs both above and below the involucel, the latter normally calyx- 

 like composed of 4 acute ascending teeth, at first densely pubescent 

 on the outside, at length subglabrous and glossy, usually situated at 

 or above the middle of the peduncle; axis of spike not exceeding the 

 peduncle in thickness. Flowers much darker than those of A. Stand- 

 leiji, but apparently yellow after anthesis, on account of the mass of 

 crowded anthers; calyx broadly tubular, shallowly lobed, tan-colored, 

 hairy about the margin and on the sides; corolla maroon or dark wine- 

 colored, obtusely 5- or 6-lobed, about twice as long as the cslyx; sta- 



Fig. 2. Acacia gladiata Safford. Enlarged stipular spines of vegetative 

 leaf, with base of rachis showing solitary nectar gland. Cotype {Rose 3792). 

 Natural size. 



mens exserted, very numerous, the filaments ferrugineous, the anthers 

 pale strawcolored; style filiform, longer than the stamens. Fruit not 

 observed. Large spines very long and widely divergent, usually flat- 

 tened and sword-like, linear-lanceolate in outline, somewhat con- 

 stricted at the base, resembling certain forms of the spines of Acacia 

 cochliacantha H. & B. but connate instead of separate at the base and 

 never split or inflated, gradually narrowed toward the apex to an 

 acute point, 35 to 52 mm. long, 5 to 8 mm. broad, glabrous, reddish 

 or wine-colored when young, at length brown or tan-colored. Leaves 

 with pubescent or minutely hairy rachis and usually with a nectar 

 gland at its base and just below each pair of pinnae, those of vegetative 

 branches 7 to 10 cm. long, composed of about 20 pairs of pinnae, these 

 23 to 27 mm. long; leaflets about 20 pairs, oblong-linear, 3.5 to 4.5 mm. 

 long and 1 to 1.2 mm. broad, unequal at the base, rounded at the 

 apex, often mucronulate or tipped with a waxy apical body, as in the 

 true myrmecophilous acacias, the margin at first fringed with small 

 stiff hairs, at length subglabrate. Leaves of flowering branches with 

 short subulate stipular spines and 10 to 16 pairs of pinnae; nectar 

 glands circular or oval, with a raised annular margin. 



