Gold-dust acacia

Acacia acinacea, commonly known as gold-dust wattle or gold-dust acacia, is a bushy or straggling, open shrub in the family Fabaceae that typically grows to about 2.5 m tall. It bears asymmetric, narrowly oblong to egg-shaped phyllodes 4–15 mm long and 2–8 mm wide, each tipped with a small offset point. Between July and November the plant blooms prolifically, producing spherical golden-yellow flower heads about 4–4.5 mm in diameter, each containing 8 to 20 individual flowers. The pods that follow are spirally coiled or twisted, 3.0–4.5 mm wide, with a hard, smooth surface. The species is endemic to southeastern Australia, ranging from near Melrose in South Australia (including the Mount Lofty Ranges, Kangaroo Island, and Flinders Ranges) through most of Victoria into the Gilgandra district of New South Wales, where it grows in sandy and gravelly soils in eucalyptus woodland and open mallee scrubland.