Early wattle

Acacia genistifolia, commonly known as early wattle or spreading wattle, is an erect to spreading shrub in the family Fabaceae, typically reaching 1 to 3 metres in height. It is endemic to south-eastern Australia, occurring in New South Wales, Victoria, South Australia and Tasmania, where it grows in sclerophyll forest, mallee and heathland on sandy or rocky soils. The phyllodes are stiff, narrow-linear, rigid and pungent-pointed, 1 to 4 centimetres long and arranged alternately along the slightly hairy or glabrous branchlets. Flowers are pale yellow to cream, arranged in small globular heads of 15 to 30 florets borne singly or in pairs in the phyllode axils, appearing through autumn and winter, often as one of the earliest wattles to bloom. The fruit is a flat, straight or slightly curved legume 3 to 7 centimetres long, dehiscing to release dark, ellipsoid seeds with a small aril. The species reproduces from seed and resprouts after fire.