Acacia-bush

Acacia victoriae, the elegant wattle, bramble wattle or prickly wattle, is a shrub-like tree in the family Fabaceae native to the arid and semi-arid interior of Australia. It typically reaches 5–6 m in height with multiple trunks, has a lifespan of 10–15 years, and develops a root system that may extend 20 m laterally, providing strong drought tolerance though not survival of the most severe droughts. The branches bear small spines about 1 cm long. From August to late December the branches become densely clustered with strongly scented pale-yellow ball flowers, after which pale seed pods about 8 cm long develop, each containing brown seeds about 0.5 cm across. The species thrives in alkaline soils including clayey alluvials and saline loams on floodplains, alluvial flats and rocky hillsides, and is widely planted for windbreaks, soil stabilisation and rehabilitation.