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A Chat about Wattles. 
An Object-lesson written for New South Wales Children. 
The word “ Wattle ” is one which we, in Australia, have peculiarly adopted as our 
own, and this is how it came about. It dates from Anglo-Saxon times, and signifies 
twigs or saplings or flexible rods plaited or interwoven together. The word has 
survived (chiefly in provincial dialects) to modern days, and when the early settlers 
of this State found it convenient to construct the framework of the walls of their 
dwellings and other buildings of twigs and split saplings, the operation was called 
“ wattling,” and the material used “ wattle.” Near Sydney Cove there grew in 
abundance, overhanging the watercourses, a small tree with thin flexible stems, 
which was frequently used for the purpose, and hence was called “Wattle” or 
“Black Wattle.” It is known to botanists as Callicoma * and has cream-coloured 
flowers, in globular heads. Subsequently other plants, which we now call Acacias, 
were used for the purpose, and these are recognised as “ Wattles ” in most parts of 
this continent, whether their stems and twigs are used for wattling or not, while the 
name, as applied to Callicoma, has almost fallen into disuse, except amongst a few 
old-fashoned people. 
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The term “ Wattle ” is, however, by no means universally applied to plants of 
the genus Acacia, particularly in the far-western parts of the State. Myall, Boree, 
Mulga, Brigalow, Cooba, Dead-finish, Gidgee, Hickory, Miljee, Umbrella-bush, 
Wait-a-While, and Yarran, amongst others, are all members of the great Wattle 
family. 
The origin of the name Acacia is not absolutely free from doubt, but the 
most reasonable derivation indicates that it comes from the Greek akazo, I sharpen, 
in allusion to the sharp spines of many of the African and Asiatic species, which 
are, however, not characteristic of most of the Australian ones. 
Acacias are found in the warmer regions of the earth, particularly in 
Australia and Africa. They aggregate nearly 500 species for the whole world, of 
which considerably over 300 are found in Australia alone. It will, therefore, he 
seen that Acacia is mainly Australian. The number of species can only be stated 
approximately, as botanists continue to discover additional ones. 
Having spoken thus generally, let us consider details. First, let us examine 
the blossoms. It will be found that Wattles fall into two great groups ; those which 
have their flowers in small round heads or fluffy balls, and those in which the shape 
of the flowers may be described as short blunt rods, or technically speaking, 
“ spikes.” Now, if we look at the blossom with a pocket-lens, we shall observe that 
it consists of a very large number of tiny flowers, forming, in fact, a colony of little 
flowerets whose structure, though minute, is as perfect as that of the large showy 
Hibiscus, so common in gardens. The minute flowers will be found each to contain 
* Callicoma, from the Greek halos, beautiful, and home, hair, in allusion to the appearance of the heads of flowers. 
