205 
Bentham describes it in the following words : 
A tall shrub, either quite glabrous or pale or hoary with a minute pubescence ; branchlets somewhat 
angular. Phyllodia linear-subulate, rather rigid, nearly terete, straight or incurved, usually 2 to 3 inches 
long and very finely striate with three to five scarcely prominent nerves, with a short, innocuous, oblique 
or recurved point, but in some specimens three nerves on each side are prominent, at least at the base. 
Peduncles very short, bearing each a globular head of about twenty flowers, mostly 5-merous. Sepals 
spathulate, united to about the middle. Petals smooth. Pod linear, straight or curved, flat, about 
1 \ lines broad, much contracted between the seeds, the valves coriaceous and convex at the seeds. Seeds 
nvate, longitudinal; funicle with several folds, the last dilated into a turbinate almost cup-shaped aril. 
A. chordophylla, F. Muell. in Linncca, xxvi, 612, andPZ. Viet, ii, 11). (B.F1. ii, 337.) 
Variety. ' Var. longifdia Benth. Phyllodia slender, often 6 inches long. 
Heads almost sessile, with numerous flowers. In Leichhardt's collection." (B.F1. ii, 338.) 
Affinities. 1. " Distinguished from A. leptoneura only in the sepals rather 
more united." (B.F1. ii, 338.) 
2. Distinguished . . . "from the narrow-leaved forms of A. elongata in the 
phyllodia still narrower and less flattened." (B.F1. ii, 338.) 
3. Its affinities are, however, much closer with A. Havilandi Maiden ; see 
below, page 208. 
Botanical Name. Acacia, already explained (see Part XV, p. 104); rigens, 
Latin, stiff, unbending. 
Vernacular Name. For obvious reasons it is one of the so-called Needle- 
bushes, but it shares this name with other Wattles, and with other plants not related 
to the Wattle. 
Aboriginal Name I know of none. 
Synonym. A. chordophyllay.vM. in Linncea xxvi, 612, and PL Viet, ii, 11. 
(B.F1. ii, 338.) 
I quote the excessively rare description as given in PI. Viet. : 
Acacia chordophylla F.M. accord, to Benth. in Linncea, 1854, p. 612; F.M. in Proceed, of the Linnean 
Soc. iii, 122. 
Shrubby ; branchlets angular ; stipules obliterated ; phyllodia compressed-filiform, finely streaked, 
terminated in an oblique not pungent point ; peduncles monocephalous, much shorter than the phyllodia, 
solitary or twin or rarely several corymbose-fasciculate; capitula globular, with about twenty somewhat 
glutinous flowers ; lamina of the bracteoles rhomboid, narrowed into a long unguis ; calyx to about the 
middle five-cleft, half or more than half as long as the corolla, with somewhat spathulate lobes ; pods linear, 
convex, curved, bivalved, inside continuous, between the seeds somewhat constricted; seeds oval, placed 
lengthwise, dark-brown, shining, with large areoles and a basal conspicuous strophiole. 
In the desert country along the Murray River and Wimmera; in South Australia towards Lake 
Alexandrina ; in New South Wales in the Darling Desert, and towards the Barrier Ranges. 
. A shrub of several feet in height, covered with exceedingly short appressed almost imperceptible 
down, which imparts to the plant a slightly silky appearance. Phyllodia straight or somewhat curved, 
scattered, 1-4 inches long, about two-thirds line broad, slightly tapering into the base. Peduncles often 
shorter, never conspicuously longer than the capitula. Bracteoles about half line long, early dropping. 
Corolla nearly 1 line long. Legumen 2 inches or less long, at their greatest width about 1J lines broad; 
.valves coriaceous, outside grey-brown. Seeds about 1J lines long. 
This species is nearly allied to A. leptoneura and also to A. ephedroides, both from South- Western 
ustraUa, 
