146 THE VICTORIAN NATURALIST. 



CONTRIBUTIONS TO THE FLORA OF VICTORIA. 



No. I. 

 By F. M. Reader. Communicated by C. Frost. 

 {Read before Field Naturalists'' Club of Victoria, \ltk January, 1897.) 

 Description of a New Species of Acacia from the North- 

 Western District. 

 Shortly prior to his demise, Baron von Mueller, the great 

 authority on Australian plants, informed me that this species had 

 been wrongly included in Acacia obliqua, Cunn., and advised 

 that ample material should be obtained in order to arrive at a 

 correct and complete elucidation of the species, and after many 

 journeys to the habitat of the plant I have only recently suc- 

 ceeded in acquiring the necessary specimens. The lamented 

 death of Baron von Mueller so suddenly ending his laborious 

 and valuable researches has prevented this new species being 

 described by him. I have therefore considered it necessary and 

 obligatory on my part to prepare an analysis of the plant, and 

 record it as a species new to science. 



Acacia glandulicarpa, F. M. Reader. — A decumbent or 

 erect, almost intricately much branched shrub, from about i to 

 above 5 feet high ; branchlets terete, hoary or scantily beset with 

 appressed shining hairs. Young shoots viscid. 



Phyllodia small, from }^-^s of an inch long, oblique, thick, 

 undulate, and shining ; from oblong-obovate to almost rhom- 

 boidal ; shortly thick-pointed, minutely glandular-dotted, margin 

 entire, thickened ; usually 2-veined ; veins either prominent, thick, 

 or impressed, forming two shallow furrows, or merely lines. 

 Secondary veins scarcely prominent, somewhat anastomosing. 

 Stipules small, thick, almost deltoid, persistent. 



Flower-heads small, 8-20-flowered or more. Peduncles solitary 

 or in pairs, reddish, slender, shorter than or as long as or finally 

 longer than the phyllodia, from T V-f of an inch long, spreading 

 or deflexed. Bracts concave, yellowish or brown, almost deltoid- 

 spathular, slightly longer than the calyx, ciliate and beset with 

 whitish shining hairs, with a thick, conspicuous, slightly excurrent 

 nerve. 



Calyx yellowish-white, 5-lobed ; lobes about as long as the tube, 

 ciliate, somewhat clothed with whitish shining hairs. 



Corolla divided into 5 petals ; petals glabrous, oblong-ovate, 

 slightly oblique, rather acute, with a broad prominent nerve. 



Pods almost straight or curved, constricted between the seeds, 

 narrow or broadly oblong, y 2 -i inch long, viscid and covered with 

 glandular-whitish shining hairs. 



Seeds dull-black or olivaceous, oblique, obovate-elliptic, de- 

 pressed, T \ of an inch long. 



Funicle short, thin, whitish ; strophiole ample, unilaterally 

 extending to the middle of the seed. 



The seeds often appear glossy from the viscid exudation 

 adhering to the testa, giving them a polished appearance. 



