154 
No. 211. 
Acacia floribunda Sieb. 
Sally. ; 
(Family LEGUMINOS^E : MIMOS^E.) 
Botanical description.-Genus, Acacia. (See Part XV, p. 103.) 
Botanical description.-Species, A. floribunda WiUd., Species Plantarum iv, 1051 
(1805). 
Then we have DC. Prod, ii, 454 (1825), who quotes Willdenow and gives the 
following : 
Phyllodiis lineari-lanceolatis utrinque attenuatis integerrimis tenuiter 3-5 nerviis, spicis axillaribus 
solitariis simplicibus, calyce sinuato-4-dentato .... Pet. 4 basi coalita, apice reflexa. Ovarium 
subsericeum. 
This is translated as usual by G. Don, " A General History of the Dichlamydeous 
Plants" . . . ii, 407 (1832), in the following words :- 
Phyllodia linear-lanceolate, attenuated at both ends, quite entire, with 3-5 fine nerves; spikes 
axillary, solitary, simple ; calyx sinuately 4-toothed. Native of New Holland, on the east coast. . . . 
Petals 4, joined at the base, reflexed at the apex. Ovary rather silky. 
Then Mueller in " Plants Indigenous to the Colony of Victoria," ii, 31, makes 
the species his fourth variety of A. longifolia, as follows : 
4. Acacia floribunda, Willd. Sp. Plant, iv, 1051 ; Benth. in Hook. Lond. Jouin. i, 371 ; A. 
angustifolia, Lodd. Bot. Cabin, t. 763; A. intermedia, A. Cunn. in Bot. Mag. t. 3203; Mimosa floribunda, 
Vent. Choix, t. 13. In the colony of Victoria observed on the River Tambo ; found in various parts of 
New South Wales, extending to New England and the frontiers of Queensland. The phyllodia narrower 
than in A. longifolia, generally of thinner consistence, more closely streaked and with less prominent 
primary nerves ; the marginal gland obliterated ; the spike short-peduncled, with slender rachis and mostly 
remote flowers ; the bracteoles very caducous or diminutive ; the pods of less hardness. 
In BJ?L ii, 398, Bentham follows Mueller (PL Viet, ii, 31) in reducing A. 
floribunda to a variety (floribunda} of A. longifolia Willd. in the following words : 
Phyllodia linear or linear-lanceolate, usually narrowed at the end or acute, 3 to 4 or even 5 inches 
long, less coriaceous than in the preceding forms, the smaller veins less anastomosing and passing into 
long parallel veins scarcely finer than the principal nerve. 
This action on Mueller's part, especially as it was adopted by Bentham, has for 
many years been accepted, but there is no doubt that A. longifolia and A. floribunda 
are distinct species, in spite of the fact that the structures of the flowers in the two 
species resemble each other very closely. 
