70 
It is also found figured at plate 1319 of Loddiges’ Botanical Cabinet. The 
title-page is dated 1828; but doubtless the plates were executed about tlie same 
time as Hooker’s and Lindley’s plates. Loddiges say : “We raised many of this in 
1822.” 
In all three works it is described as a slirub, and there is no reasonable doubt 
that tlie three plants figured were raised from seed furnished by Allan Cunningham 
at the same time, and bearing a name supplied by him. 
Bentham quotes all three plates as synonyms of A. penninervis. The figures 
represent the same plant, that of the Bot. Mag. being tlie best. There is no doubt 
it is the dry-country shrubby form of A. penninervis, —tlie type, viz. :— 
A. penninervis, Sieb., DC. Prod. ii, 452. (Sieber’s pi. exs. No. 458.) The 
original description is in the Prodromus, and is dated 1825. 
Then we have— 
“ A. penninervis (Sieb. pi. exsic. nov. holl. no. 458) phyllodia oblong, acuminated at both ends, 
straight, with one longitudinal nerve in the middle, having feathered veins running from it, and furnished 
with one gland in front at the base. Native of New Holland. A. irnpressa, Cunningh. MSS. 
Lindl. Bot. Reg. 1115. Lodd. Bot. Cab. 1319. Hook. Bot. Mag. 2754. Phyllodia 2-3 inches long, and 
5-6 lines broad, pale. The feathered veins rise from the base of the phyllodia, both in this and the 
preceding species (A. spirolobus), growing obliquely from the gland. Head of flowers about the size of a 
pea, racemose.”—( Hist. of Gard. and Bot., Don, vol. 2, p. 404.) 
It will be seen that Don quotes A. irnpressa, A. Cunn., as a synonym, and 
also Lindley’s figure in Bot. Beg., and also Loddiges’ in Bot. Cab., and Hooker’s in 
Bot. Mag. 
Mr. H. T. Baker has inadvertently described it under the name var. 
lanceolata in the following passage :— 
“ A tall shrub, branchlets thin, angular, phyllodia uniformly lanceolate, narrowed at both ends, 
secondary nerve very indistinct; always narrower than in var. 1 (normalis). Pod much lighter in colour 
than any of the other forms, about £ in. broad and 6 to 9 in. long.”—(“ Botany of the Rylstone and 
Goulburn River Districts.”— Proc. Linn. Soc. N.S.W., xxi [1896], p. 441.) 
Having thus ascertained wliat is tlie true Acacia penninervis, we now come to 
that form of it which is known as the Tanning Wattle or Hickory. It is that form 
of the species which has the greatest economic value. 
It was first described by A. de Candolle, in 1825, in the following words, 
translated by Don :— 
“A falciformis (DC. Prod. 2, page 452) phyllodia oblong, falcate, much attenuated at the base, but 
bluntisb at the apex, with a longitudinal nerve in the middle, as well as being finely feather-nerved, bearing 
one gland in front on the upper margin. H. G. Native of New Holland. (Sieb. pi. exsic. nov. holl. no. 616.) 
Phyllodia 5-6 inches long and 8-9 lines broad. Heads of flowers racemose. Legume stipitate, flat, rather 
glaucous, 2 inches long, and 8-10 lines broach Shrub 4-8 ft.—( History of Gardening and Botany, Don, 
vol. 2, p. 404).” 
Then Allan Cunningham described the Tanning Wattle as A. astringens, but 
speaks of it as a shrub of 6-10 feet with glaucous phyllodia. The sizes of plants as 
given by the early botanists frequently require modification as additional data are 
obtained. I have seen the Tanning Wattle of the size stated, and also with glaucous 
phyllodes. 
