97 
No. 165. 
Acacia decora, Reiehb. 
The Western Silver Wattle. 
(Family LEGUMINOS^E : MIMOSEyE.) 
Botanical description. —Genus, Acacia. (See Part XV, p. 103.) 
Botanical description. —Species, A. decora, Reiehb., Icon. Exot. t. 199 (Rei- 
chenbach’s Iconographia botanica exotica, 1827-1830). 
Reichenbaeb’s figure, not entirely satisfactory, is reproduced on plate 169. 
This description is very brief, and is as follows:— 
199. Acacia decora, Rchb. capitato-racemosa, phyllodiis lineari-lanceolatis basi attenuatis, rectis, 
acutis, glaucis. 
Species nova vix ulli nisi A. obtusatse, Sieb. phyllodiis viridibus obtusis praeter alias notas diversae 
similis, e semine anglico educata. Phyllodia maxime glauca, fere pruinosa, capitulis laete luteis elegantissime 
respondent. Legumina non maturuit. Floruit primo vere cum aliis. 
Explic. Ad vivum. 
Bentbam describes the species more amply in the following words :— 
A shrub of several feet, glabrous or slightly glaucous-tomentose ; branchlets angular. 
Phyllodia lanceolate or linear, narrowed at the base, straight or slightly falcate, 1 to 2 inches long, 
thicker than in A. linifolia, 1-nerved, slightly penniveined, with nerve-like margins, and 
usually with a gland below the middle. 
Racemes usually numerous, longer than the phyllodia, with several globular heads of about twenty 
flowers, mostly 5-merous. 
Calyx shortly lobed, not half so long as the corolla. 
Pod straight or curved, flat, about 3 lines broad. 
Seeds longitudinal, close to the upper suture; last fold of the funicle thickened into a lateral 
club-shaped aril, the lower folds very small. (B.F1. ii, 372.) 
He adds: 
Perhaps a variety of A. buxifolia, differing only in the longer phyllodia and more numerous 
flowers in the heads. Some specimens from the Melbourne Botanic Garden, apparently of this species, 
have the phyllodia still longer and narrower. 
Mueller goes further and omits A. decora from bis “ Census,” including it 
under A. buxifolia, which I think is clearly a mistake. 
A. buxifolia is a shrub, and never a tree; A. decora is usually a spreading 
tree. The phyllodes of the two species are so different in shape that it should not 
be easy io confuse them. The individual flowers are more hairy in A. decora; 
the pods of A. decora are longer, and the arillus sufficiently different. 
The confusion has doubtless arisen through not keeping the types sufficiently 
in mind. 
B 
