62 
He then goes on to give the following account of it:— 
A charming conservatory shrub, native of New South Wales, where it inhabits barren forest- 
grounds, in the immediate vicinity of the Nepean River; and although it may, in its native regions, be 
truly said to be, like Goldsmith’s village thorn, “ unprofitably gray,”—no one caring to receive it into his 
garden, it nevertheless seldom fails, even there, in the month of September, when decked with blossoms, to 
commend itself to the notice and admiration of the passing, way-worn colonist, not less by the extreme 
richness and profusion of its golden flowers, than by the delicious fragrance they diffuse around. It has 
been several years at Kew, where it flowers annually in the months of spring; and our acknowledgments 
are due to Mr. Aiton for the opportunity now afforded us of publishing a figure of it. 
At the end he gives a description of A. fimbriata, A. Cunn., a species which 
has been confused with A. prominens. 
Then Bentham redescribes the species in the following words:— 
A tall shrub, glabrous and usually glaucous, with angular branchlets. 
Phyllodia from linear-lanceolate to oblong-falcate, when narrow nearly those of A. linifolia, but 
not so decidedly ciliate, more acute and the marginal gland further from the base, and 
passing from that to nearly those of A. lunata, but always much thinner than the latter, 
with the pinnate veins as well as the gland more conspicuous, mostly 1 to 1| inch long, fiom 
2 lines broad in the narrow form to 3, 4, or even 5 in the broad ones. 
Racemes about as long as the phyllodia, with very small globular heads of about 8 to 10 or rarely 
12 to 15 small flowers, mostly 5-merous. 
Calyx very short, broadly lobed. 
Petals smooth, or nearly so. 
Pod very flat, 2 to 3 inches long when perfect, 3, 4, or rarely 5 lines broad. 
Seeds longitudinal along the centre, the last fold of the funicle thickened into a fleshy clavate 
lateral aril, the other folds very small. ( B.Fl. ii, 371.) 
Mr. B. T. Baker gives a figure of this species in Proc. Linn. Soc. N.S. IP., 
xvi, 672. 
He (op. cit., p. 573) usefully supplements Bentham’s description with the 
following remarks :— 
It is described as “ a tall shrub,” but it is very often to be seen over 20 feet, and not uncommonly 
exceeding 30 feet in height, with a diameter in proportion. 
The phyllodes often extend to 2 inches, particularly in plants found in the northern districts; 
about 1^ inch in those in the neighbourhood of Sydney, and 1 inch in southern examples. 
The racemes are given by Bentham as “about as long as” the phyllodes, but I find them almost 
always longer in the living state. They shrink very much in drying. 
The pod (“neglected by collectors in the majority of specimens gathered ”) can scarcely be said to 
be “very flat”; it is light warm brown in colour, glabrous and rugose, measuring 1 to 3 inches long and 
\ to 1 inch broad. 
The seeds are at first transverse, but in some cases oblique and longitudinal along the centre; they 
appear to change their position prior to falling. 
The coloured plate (Bot. May., vol. lxiii, No. 3502) in no way assists to identify the species. 
I will supplement Mr. Baker’s observations by saying that it attains the 
height of over 70 feet (measured). While agreeing to the extent that Pot. Mag. 
t. 3508 is not a very good representation, the characteristic gland is present. The 
flowers are usually about twelve in the head. 
Botanical Name. — Acacia, already explained (see Part XV, p. 104); 
prominens, Latin, prominent, in allusion to the conspicuous marginal gland of the 
phyllodes. 
