47 
2. Variety mollis, Lindl. 
Botanical description. —Variety mollis, Lindley, Bot. Beg., t. 371. 
Foliage softly tomentose-pubescent, the indumentum assuming a golden-yellow tinge on the young 
shoots. Leaflets, 2 to 3 lines long, obtuse; glands numerous along the primary rhachis. 
The variety may he more fully described as follows:— 
Foliage softly tomentose-pubescent, the indumentum assuming a golden-yellow tinge on the 
young shoots. 
The leaflets are nearly spathulate and besprinkled with fine hairs. Sometimes they are entirely 
covered with fine hairs, and then they approximate to var. dealbata. Sometimes the leaflets 
are nearly glabrous. 
Decurrent angles from the leaf-stalks, somewhat prominent. There are all stages of angularity, 
but never so marked as in normalis. 
Pinnce. —8-20 pairs. 
Pinnules (leaflets). —30-60 pairs. Closely approximated, obtuse ; very short linear, say, 2-3 lines : 
the length varies ; they have measurable width. 
Glands. —Numerous along the primary rhachis. The pinnae are opposite, and the glands are at 
or close to their junction with the rhachis. Usually only one gland to each pair of pinnae. 
Flower-heads. —Apparently the largest of all the varieties. 
Calyx. —Slightly longer than the petals. Ciliate on interior of lobes. 
Petals. —Slightly depressed. Few hairs (1) near outer edge of apex. 
Pods. —2-3 inches in average size. Rather narrow, ripen very tardily. Much contracted between 
the seeds. 
This is a sweet-scented, almost overpoweringly-scented form, and it flowers in 
the summer or early summer. It is the form which yields the best tan-bark. At 
the same time it passes imperceptibly into other forms, and I advise landowners not 
only to have a botanical examination of their wattles, but also to have a chemical 
examination of their barks. 
Botanical Name.— Mollis, Latin, soft, in reference to the foliage. 
Vernacular Names. —Sometimes called “ Black Wattle ” in New South 
Wales, and commonly so called in Victoria and Tasmania, but usually called “ Green 
Wattle” in New South Wales, and occasionally “Silver Wattle.” The common 
Green Wattle of the older colonists. 
Aboriginal Names. —Formerly called “ Wat-tah ” by the aborigines of the 
Counties of Cumberland and Camden; “ Nummerak ” of those of the Illawarra 
district, New South Wales (Macarthur); “ Garrong ” or “Currong” of the 
aborigines of Lake Condah, and also of the Yarra, Victoria, aborigines; “ Warraworup” 
of those of the aboriginal station, Coranderrk, Victoria. 
Synonym. — A.mollissima, Willd .Enum. 1053. Figured in Bot. Beg. , t. 371; 
Engler, Nat. PJlanzen., iii, 3, p. 109, fig. 61; Sweet, FI. Austr., 1.12, as A. mollissima; 
J. E. Brown’s Forest Flora of S.A., t. 26. 
