Acacia acuminata

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Description

Acacia acuminata, commonly known as raspberry jam or fine leaf jam, is a shrub in the family Fabaceae. Endemic to Western Australia, it occurs throughout the south west corner of the State. It is common in the Wheatbelt, and also extends into the semi-arid interior.

Raspberry jam grows as a tall shrub or small tree. In ideal conditions it may grow to a height of ten metres, but in most of its distribution it does not grow above five metres. As with most Acacia species, it has phyllodes rather than true leaves. These are bright green, around ten centimetres long and about two millimetres wide, and finish in a long point. The lemon yellow flowers are held in tight cylindrical clusters about two centimetres long. The pods are light brown and flattened, about ten centimetres long and five millimetres wide.

Name origin

The species name acuminata comes from the Latin acuminatus, which means pointed or elongated. This refers to the long point at the end of each leaf. The common name "raspberry jam" refers to the strong odour of freshly cut wood, which resembles raspberry jam.

Growing conditions

Acacia acuminata has high frost tolerance and medium salt tolerance. It requires at least 250mm/year (9.8in./year) average rainfall.^[1]

Uses

The wood is hard and durable, with an attractive, reddish, close grain. It has been used extensively for fence posts,^[2] for ornamental articles, and for high-load applications such as sheave blocks. The wood's "air dried" density is 1040 kg/m³.^[3]

Subspecies

• Acacia acuminata subsp. acuminata Benth.
• Acacia acuminata subsp. burkittii (Benth.)Kodela & Tindale^[4]

References

Notes

General references

• Acacia acuminata Benth.. Australian Plant Name Index (APNI), IBIS database. Centre for Plant Biodiversity Research, Australian Government.
• Acacia acuminata. Flora of Australia Online. Department of the Environment and Heritage, Australian Government.
• Acacia acuminata. FloraBase. Department of Environment and Conservation, Government of Western Australia.
• D. J. Boland et.al. (1984). Forest Trees of Australia (Fourth Edition Revised and Enlarged). CSIRO Publishing, Collingwood, Victoria. ISBN 0-643-05423-5. 
• A. A. Mitchell and D. G. Wilcox (1994). Arid Shrubland Plants of Western Australia (Second and Enlarged Edition). Department of Agriculture, Western Australia. ISBN 1-875560-22-X. 
• USDA GRIN