46 



ACACIA spectabilis. 

 Showy Acacia. 



POLYGAMIA MONOECIA. 



Nat. ord. Leguminos^, § Mimose^e. 

 ACACIA. Willd. 



Series II. Botrycephalfe. Inermes, foliis bipinnatis, capitulis racemosis, 



peduncidis solitariis. Benth. 



A. spectabilis (Cunningliam) ; glaucescens, glabra v. ramulis petiolisque hir- 

 tellis, pinnis 2-5-jugis, glandula petiolari depressa obscura jugalibus 

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

 2-3-uerviis, capituloinim racemis folio longioribus supremis pauiculatis, 

 floribus subglabris, calyce corolla dimidio breviore. Bentham hi 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, beautiful as 

 many of them are. Unfortunately our means of publication 

 render it impossible to represent the softness and delicacy of 

 surface which are among its principal characteristics. The 

 leaves and branches are covered with the most delicate bloom, 

 and the flowers, produced in large masses at the end of the 

 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 late 

 Mr. Allan Cunningham and by Mr. Frazer. For its intro- 

 duction to this country we are indebted to H. B. Lott, Esq. 

 who presented it to Messrs. Lucombe, Pince & Co. of Exeter, 

 from whom we received a flowering- specimen last April. 



It belonofs 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 



