Acacia dealbata

Classification System: APG IV

Superregnum: Eukaryota
Regnum: Plantae
Cladus: Angiosperms
Cladus: Eudicots
Cladus: Core eudicots
Cladus: Rosids
Cladus: Eurosids I
Ordo: Fabales

Familia: Fabaceae
Subfamilia: Caesalpinioideae
Tribus: Acacieae
Genus: Acacia
Species: Acacia dealbata
Subspecies: A. d. subsp. subalpina
Name

Acacia dealbata Link, 1822
Synonyms

Acacia affinis Sweet
Acacia dealbata var. mackayana Seem.
Acacia decurrens var. dealbata (Link) Maiden
Acacia decurrens var. mollissima É.Miège
Acacia puberula Dehnh.
Mimosa dealbata (Link) Page
Racosperma dealbatum (Link) Pedley

Homonyms

Acacia dealbata A.Cunn. = Acacia lunata G.Lodd.

Distribution
Native distribution areas:
Acacia dealbata

Continental: Australasia
Regional: Australia
New South Wales, Tasmania, Victoria
Introduced into:
Albania, Amsterdam-St.Paul Is, Argentina Northeast, Assam, Azores, Brazil South, California, Canary Is., Cape Provinces, Chile Central, Chile South, China South-Central, China Southeast, Costa Rica, Desventurados Is., East Himalaya, Easter Is., Ecuador, Ethiopia, France, Free State, Guatemala, Haiti, India, Italy, Jamaica, Juan Fernández Is., KwaZulu-Natal, Lesotho, Madagascar, Madeira, Mauritius, Mozambique, Nepal, New Zealand North, New Zealand South, Norfolk Is., Northern Provinces, Palestine, Portugal, Romania, Réunion, Sardegna, South Australia, Spain, Sri Lanka, Swaziland, Taiwan, Tanzania, Transcaucasus, Uganda, Uruguay, West Himalaya, Yugoslavia, Zimbabwe

References: Brummitt, R.K. 2001. TDWG – World Geographical Scheme for Recording Plant Distributions, 2nd Edition
References
Primary references

Link, J.H.F. 1822. Enumeratio Plantarum Horti Regii Berolinensis Altera. Pars 2. 478 pp., G. Reimer, Berlin. BHL Reference page. : 2:445.

Links

Govaerts, R. et al. 2020. Acacia dealbata in Kew Science Plants of the World online. The Board of Trustees of the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew. Published on the internet. Accessed: 2020 Jul 31. Reference page.
International Plant Names Index. 2019. Acacia dealbata. Published online. Accessed: Jul 31 2019.
Tropicos.org 2019. Acacia dealbata. Missouri Botanical Garden. Published on the internet. Accessed: 2019 Jul 31.
Hassler, M. Jul. Acacia dealbata. World Plants: Synonymic Checklists of the Vascular Plants of the World In: Roskovh, Y., Abucay, L., Orrell, T., Nicolson, D., Bailly, N., Kirk, P., Bourgoin, T., DeWalt, R.E., Decock, W., De Wever, A., Nieukerken, E. van, Zarucchi, J. & Penev, L., eds. Jul. Species 2000 & ITIS Catalogue of Life. Published on the internet. Accessed: Jul 31 {{{3}}}. Reference page.
USDA, ARS, Germplasm Resources Information Network. Acacia dealbata in the Germplasm Resources Information Network (GRIN), U.S. Department of Agriculture Agricultural Research Service. Accessed: 09-Oct-10.

Vernacular names
Afrikaans: Silwerwattel
azərbaycanca: Sarı akasiya
català: Mimosa
Deutsch: Silber-Akazie
English: Silver Wattle
español: Mimosa
eesti: Hõbeakaatsia
suomi: Hopea-akaasia
français: Mimosa
magyar: Ezüst akácia
italiano: Mimosa
日本語: フサアカシア
Mirandés: Mimosa
polski: Akacja srebrzysta
português: Mimosa
русский: Акация серебристая
svenska: Silverakacia
Türkçe: Gümüşi akasya
中文: 银荆

Acacia dealbata, the silver wattle, blue wattle[3] or mimosa,[4] is a species of flowering plant in the legume family Fabaceae, native to southeastern Australia in New South Wales, Victoria, Tasmania, and the Australian Capital Territory and widely introduced in Mediterranean, warm temperate, and highland tropical landscapes.[5][6]

Description
Acacia Dealbata in autumn in the UK with flower buds visible

It is a fast-growing evergreen tree or shrub growing up to 30 m tall, typically a pioneer species after fire. The leaves are bipinnate, glaucous blue-green to silvery grey, 1–12 cm (occasionally to 17 cm) long and 1–11 cm broad, with 6–30 pairs of pinnae, each pinna divided into 10–68 pairs of leaflets; the leaflets are 0.7–6 mm long and 0.4–1 mm broad. The flowers are produced in large racemose inflorescences made up of numerous smaller globose bright yellow flowerheads of 13–42 individual flowers. The fruit is a flattened pod 2–11.5 cm long and 6–14 mm broad, containing several seeds.[3][7] Trees generally do not live longer than 30 to 40 years, after which in the wild they are succeeded by other species where bushfires are excluded. In moist mountain areas, a white lichen can almost cover the bark, which may contribute to the descriptor "silver". The Latin specific epithet dealbata also means "covered in a white powder".[8]
Chemistry

It has been analyzed as containing less than 0.02% alkaloids.[9] It is known to contain enanthic (heptanoic) acid, palmic aldehyde, anisic acid, acetic acid, and phenols.[10][unreliable source?]
Taxonomy

Along with other bipinnate wattles, Acacia dealbata is classified in the section Botrycephalae within the subgenus Phyllodineae in the genus Acacia. An analysis of genomic and chloroplast DNA along with morphological characters found that the section is polyphyletic, though the close relationships of many species were unable to be resolved. Acacia dealbata appears to be most closely related to A. mearnsii, A. nanodealbata and A. baileyana.[11]

Some authorities consider A. dealbata to be a variant of Acacia decurrens.[3]
Subspecies

There are two subspecies:[5]

A. dealbata subsp. dealbata. Low to moderate altitudes. Tree to 30 m; leaves mostly 5–12 cm long.
A. dealbata subsp. subalpina Tindale & Kodela. High altitudes in the Snowy Mountains. Shrub to 5 m (rarely 10 m) tall; leaves mostly 1.5–8.5 cm long.

Cultivation
'Kambah Karpet', a cultivar discovered at the Kambah Village

Acacia dealbata is widely cultivated as an ornamental plant in warm temperate regions of the world,[3] and is naturalised in some areas, including Sochi (Black Sea coast of Russia), southwestern Western Australia, southeastern South Australia, Norfolk Island, the Mediterranean region from Portugal to Greece and Morocco to Israel, Yalta (Crimea, Ukraine), California, Madagascar,[12] southern Africa (South Africa, Zimbabwe), the highlands of southern India,[6] south-western China and Chile.[7][13][14][15][16] It is hardy down to −5 °C (23 °F),[17] but does not survive prolonged frost.[3] It prefers a sheltered position in full sun, with acid or neutral soil. It has gained the Royal Horticultural Society's Award of Garden Merit.[17][18]
Mimosa

The flowers and tip shoots are harvested for use as cut flowers, when it is known by the florist trade as "mimosa" (not to be confused with the genus of plants called Mimosa). In Italy,[19] Albania, Russia and Georgia the flowers are also frequently given to women on International Women's Day. The essence of the flowers, called 'mimosa', or in older texts, 'cassie', is used in perfumes.[20]
Other uses

The Ngunnawal people of the ACT used the bark to make coarse rope and string, the resinous sap for glue or to mix with ash to make poultices, the timber for tools, and the seeds to make flour.[21]

The timber is useful for furniture and indoor work, but has limited uses, mainly in craft furniture and turning. It has a honey colour, often with distinctive figures like birdseye and tiger stripes. It has a medium weight (540–720 kg/m3), and is similar to its close relative blackwood, but of lighter tone without the dark heartwood.

The leaves are sometimes used in Indian chutney.[3]
Invasive species

In South Africa, the species is a Category 1 weed in the Western Cape (requiring eradication) and Category 2 weed (requiring control outside plantation areas) elsewhere.[22] In New Zealand the Department of Conservation class it as an environmental weed.[23] In Spain, due to its colonizing potential and constituting a serious threat to native species, habitats or ecosystems, this species has been included in the Spanish Catalog of Invasive Exotic Species, regulated by Royal Decree 630/2013, of 2 of August, being prohibited in Spain, except the Canary Islands and the Balearic Islands, its introduction into the natural environment, possession, transport, traffic and commerce.[24] In Portugal, the species makes part of the official list of invasive species (along with other Acacia species).[25] In California, the species is invasive and appears to displace many native species, also threatening the habitat of the endangered Mount Hermon June beetle.[26][27]
See also

List of Acacia species
References

"Acacia dealbata". Australian Plant Name Index (APNI), IBIS database. Centre for Plant Biodiversity Research, Australian Government, Canberra. Retrieved 4 December 2012.
«Acacia dealbata» EOL. Consulted on 21 November 2013.
Gualtiero Simonetti (1990). Stanley Schuler (ed.). Simon & Schuster's Guide to Herbs and Spices. Simon & Schuster, Inc. ISBN 978-0-671-73489-3.
"Archived copy". Archived from the original on 2014-02-03. Retrieved 2014-01-31.
Australian Plant Name Index: Acacia dealbata
Kull, Christian A.; Shackleton, Charlie M.; Cunningham, Peter J.; Ducatillon, Catherine; Dufour-Dror, Jean-Marc; Esler, Karen J.; Friday, James B.; Gouveia, António C.; Griffin, A. R.; Marchante, Elizabete; Midgley, Stephen J.; Pauchard, Aníbal; Rangan, Haripriya; Richardson, David M.; Rinaudo, Tony; Tassin, Jacques; Urgenson, Lauren S.; von Maltitz, Graham P.; Zenni, Rafael D.; Zylstra, Matthew J. (2011). "Adoption, use and perception of Australian acacias around the world". Diversity and Distributions. 17 (5): 822–836. doi:10.1111/j.1472-4642.2011.00783.x.
Flora of Australia Online: Acacia dealbata
Harrison, Lorraine (2012). RHS Latin for Gardeners. United Kingdom: Mitchell Beazley. ISBN 978-1845337315.
Chemotaxonomie der Pflanzen By Robert Hegnauer
Mimosa Essential Oil
Brown, Gillian K.; Ariati, Siti R.; Murphy, Daniel J.; Miller, Joseph T. H.; Ladiges, Pauline Y. (1991). "Bipinnate acacias (Acacia subg. Phyllodineae sect. Botrycephalae) of eastern Australia are polyphyletic based on DNA sequence data". Australian Systematic Botany. 19 (4): 315–26. doi:10.1071/SB05039.
Kull, Christian A. (2007). "Multifunctional, Scrubby, and Invasive Forests?". Mountain Research and Development. 27 (3): 224–231. doi:10.1659/mrd.0864. S2CID 106404585.
Michail Belov: [1], Chileflora. Consulted 2010, September 22.
Flora Europaea: Acacia dealbata
Jepson Flora: Acacia dealbata
"Archived copy" (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on 2013-06-27. Retrieved 2013-05-02. Kull, Christian A.; Rangan, Haripriya (2008). "Acacia exchanges: Wattles, thorn trees, and the study of plant movements". Geoforum. 39 (3): 1258–1272. doi:10.1016/j.geoforum.2007.09.009.
"Acacia dealbata". www.rhs.org. Royal Horticultural Society. Retrieved 14 February 2020.
"AGM Plants - Ornamental" (PDF). www.rhs.org. Royal Horticultural Society. July 2017. p. 1. Retrieved 14 February 2020.
"8 Marzo, festa della donna: ecco perché si regala la mimosa". ANSA. 2015-03-06.
Vosnaki, Elena. "Mimosa". Fragrantica. Retrieved 16 March 2019.
Ngunnawal Elders (2014) 'Ngunnawal Plant Use.' ACT Government: Canberra
Invasive Species South Africa
Howell, Clayson (May 2008). Consolidated list of environmental weeds in New Zealand (PDF). DRDS292. Wellington: Department of Conservation. ISBN 978-0-478-14413-0. Archived from the original (PDF) on 2009-05-30. Retrieved 2009-05-06.
Real Decreto 630/2013, de 2 de agosto, por el que se regula el Catálogo español de especies exóticas invasoras. Boletín Oficial del Estado.
"Decreto-Lei 92/2019, 2019-07-10". Diário da República Eletrónico (in Portuguese).
DiTomaso, J. M.; Bell, C. E.; Wilen, C. A. (June 2017). "Invasive Plants". Statewide Integrated Pest Management Program. Pest Notes. Davis, California: University of California Division of Agriculture and Natural Resources. UC ANR Publication 74139. Retrieved 2021-06-09.
DiTomaso, Joseph M.; Williams, Andrea (2007). "Acacia dealbata Plant Assessment Form". Berkeley, California: California Invasive Plant Council. Retrieved 2021-06-09.