151 
N"o. 241. 
Acacia coriacea DC. 
Wirewood. 
(Family LEGUMINOS^E : MIMOS^E.) 
Botanical description. Genus, Acacia. See Part XV, p. 103. 
Botanical description. Species, coriacea De Candolle (Augustin Pyramus). 
'Memoires sur la Famille de Legumineuses," No. XII, p. 446, Paris (1825), 
and " Prodromus," ii, 451 (1825). 
G. Don's translation of DC. Leg. Mem. XII (which I have not seen), and of 
DC. Prod., ii, 451, is as follows : 
Stipulas wanting ; phyllodia very long and linear, quite entire, nerveless, thick and coriaceous ; 
when young they are clothed with adpressed, velvety down, but in the adult state they are glabrous ; 
heads of flowers solitary; branches terete. Native of New Holland, on the eastern coast. Legume 
linear, curved into a circle, when young clothed with cinereous down. The down on the leaves is at first 
yellowish, but at length becomes cinereous. 
Coriaceous leaved Acacia. Cult. 1824. Shrub of 4-6 feet. (Dichlamydeous Plants, ii, 403.) 
' Eastern coast " in the above is a slip of the pen for " western coast," and has 
caused some confusion. 
I now offer a translation of Bentham's description of 1842 : 
Ash-coloured, covered with very fine close hair, branchlets terete, phyllodes elongate-linear, some- 
what arched, rather obtuse, gradually tapering towards the base, thick-coriaceous, very finely and many 
nerved, peduncles short, pod moniliform, striate. Phyllodes a foot long and longer, 2-2 lines broad, 
nerveless to the naked eye, under the lens finely and densely striate, many nerved. Pod 6-9 inches long, 
linear, bow-shaped or twisted, ash-coloured, the pseudo-joints an inch long, 4-5 lines broad, valves 
coriaceous, convex. 
N.W. Coast, Bay of Rest and Dirk Hartog's Isle, Cunningham. I have not seen the flowers. 
(London Journal of Botany, i, 366, 1842.) 
Then we have Bentham's description in English in 1866 : 
Ashy-grey, with the young shoots silky-hoary or almost golden ; branchlets terete. Phyllodia 
long-linear, straight or curved, obtuse, narrowed towards the base, often foot long or more, 1 to 2| lines 
wide, thickly coriaceous, with numerous fine and closely packed longitudinal nerves, only visible under 
a lens. Peduncles usually in pairs, J to \ inch long, bearing each a globular head of 20 to 25 flowers, 
mostly 5-merous, hoary-pubescent in the bud. Calyx f line long, tubular, with ciliate lobes. Petals 
rather longer, united above the middle. Pod 6 to 9 inches long, moniliform; valves coriaceous, very 
convex, 4 to 5 lines broad, oblong and striate over the seeds, much contracted between them. Seeds 
longitudinal, distant ; funicle folded and dilated under the seed, but not seen perfect. 
Northern Australia. Bay of Rest, N.W. coast, A. Cunningham; Depuech Island, Bynoe; Nichol 
Bay, F. Gregory's Expedition. 
Western Australia. Shark's Bay, Baudin's Expedition; Dirk Hartog's Island and Shark's Bay, 
Milne. (B.F1. ii, 385.) 
