Acacia verniciflua

Acacia verniciflua, commonly called varnish wattle, is an evergreen shrub or small tree in the Fabaceae family, endemic to south-eastern Australia, occurring in Victoria, New South Wales and South Australia. It typically grows 1 to 6 metres tall with a slender, often somewhat sticky habit, the young shoots and phyllodes coated with a resinous, varnish-like exudate that gives the species its name. The phyllodes (modified flattened petioles serving as leaves) are alternate, narrowly linear to narrowly elliptic, 4 to 12 cm long and only a few millimetres wide, with a single prominent midvein. They are dark green, glossy and viscid, especially when young. From late winter to spring the plant produces axillary racemes of small, bright yellow globular flower heads, each composed of many fine stamens and exuding a faint sweet scent. Fruits are slender, narrow legume pods 5 to 10 cm long that become slightly constricted between the small dark seeds, which bear a folded aril.