Palest yellow acacia
 

We have planted an Acacia expecting it to be the usual A. dealbata but it
produced flowers in mid-summer. They are exactly like the normal mimosa
flowers but they're the palest possible yellow and the leaves are like A.
dealbata. Anyone any ideas about the proper name of an Acacia that flowers
in mid-summer and is very, very pale yellow - so much so that from a short
distance they're almost white. It also beat the world record for growth -
it was almost a question of 'plant and stand well back'!

--
Sacha
http://www.hillhousenursery.co.uk
South Devon
(remove weeds from address)
'We do not inherit the earth from our ancestors, we borrow it from our
children.'

Palest yellow acacia
 

A similar question cropped up last year on UK Oasis when a Paignton
member reported having a pale lemon-flowered Acacia that did its stuff
much later than dealbata. Having seen the Paignton tree, I'm of the
opinion that it is probably a late flowering form of A. dealbata 'sub-
alpina'. Last year the tree flowered earlier (April/May), but I'm not
sure what it did this year. I must ask the question.

Palest yellow acacia
 

On 30/10/07 07:16, in article
, "Dave Poole"
wrote:

A similar question cropped up last year on UK Oasis when a Paignton
member reported having a pale lemon-flowered Acacia that did its stuff
much later than dealbata. Having seen the Paignton tree, I'm of the
opinion that it is probably a late flowering form of A. dealbata 'sub-
alpina'. Last year the tree flowered earlier (April/May), but I'm not
sure what it did this year. I must ask the question.


I don't think you saw ours last time you were here, David. Ray meant to
show it to you but I think he forgot. It's in front of the house, on the
corner of that bank that slopes down onto the lawn, by the path that goes to
the Rond Point and the wildlife pond.


--
Sacha
http://www.hillhousenursery.co.uk
South Devon
(remove weeds from address)
'We do not inherit the earth from our ancestors, we borrow it from our
children.'

A. melanoxylon perhaps. Fast growing with pale flowers. Supposed to flower late winter to late spring, but maybe it was set back by the late spring cold spell this year. If it is melanoxylon, then you should be able to spot a difference in the foliage: dealbata has only juvenile acacia foliage (what we think of as typical mimosa foliage), whereas melanoxylon has both juvenile and adult acacia foliage, ie, larger lance shaped leaves as well. A. melanoxylon is a common stowaway on other australian plants, eg tree ferns. Pic: http://www.trevenacross.co.uk/shop/pics.asp?plantid=268

Palest yellow acacia
 

On 30/10/07 09:04, in article ,
"echinosum" wrote:


Sacha;757038 Wrote:
We have planted an Acacia expecting it to be the usual A. dealbata but
it produced flowers in mid-summer. They are exactly like the normal
mimosa flowers but they're the palest possible yellow and the leaves
are like A. dealbata. Anyone any ideas about the proper name of an
Acacia that flowers in mid-summer and is very, very pale yellow - so
much so that from a short distance they're almost white. It also beat
the world record for growth - it was almost a question of 'plant and
stand well back'!
A. melanoxylon perhaps. Fast growing with pale flowers. Supposed to
flower late winter to late spring, but maybe it was set back by the
late spring cold spell this year. If it is melanoxylon, then you should
be able to spot a difference in the foliage: dealbata has only juvenile
acacia foliage (what we think of as typical mimosa foliage), whereas
melanoxylon has both juvenile and adult acacia foliage, ie, larger
lance shaped leaves as well. A. melanoxylon is a common stowaway on
other australian plants, eg tree ferns. Pic: http://tinyurl.com/2do3vw

We had one of those stowaways but unfortunately we had to pull it out of the
tree fern's trunk and it wouldn't root. The one I'm trying to ID has the
same form as A. dealbata but the leaves are a real green, not at all grey
and they're bigger. It also has seed pods. It appears to be forming flower
buds now on longish stems, too. I'm afraid this is not a brilliant pic
because it's a bit windy here today!
http://i23.tinypic.com/30rw9b8.jpg


--
Sacha
http://www.hillhousenursery.co.uk
South Devon
(remove weeds from address)
'We do not inherit the earth from our ancestors, we borrow it from our
children.'

Palest yellow acacia
 

Definitely not Acacia melanoxylon. That species has cladodes
(flattened leaf stems that function as leaves) at maturity and the
bipinnate leaves are only present on very young plants. It might just
be Acacia decurrens (Green Wattle), but the flowering period and pale
flowers suggest otherwise. Trouble is, normal dealbata 'Subalpina'
has the characteristic silvery leaves of the species and your are
green, as are those of the Paignton tree. I'll have a chat with a few
mates in Oz.

Palest yellow acacia
 

Just an update. A long lost pal from Spain has suddenly re-surfaced
and when the question was asked he immediately hit on the right name.
It is the 'Black Wattle' - Acacia mearnsii. I wish I could hit my
forehead and say "Duh! I knew that" because it's not a rare thing by
any stretch of the imagination.

Palest yellow acacia
 

On 2/11/07 14:40, in article
, "Dave Poole"
wrote:

Just an update. A long lost pal from Spain has suddenly re-surfaced
and when the question was asked he immediately hit on the right name.
It is the 'Black Wattle' - Acacia mearnsii. I wish I could hit my
forehead and say "Duh! I knew that" because it's not a rare thing by
any stretch of the imagination.


Thanks, David - as usual, you've come up with the goods. That certainly
looks like it though some Google pics show it as yellow but the Alien
Invaders site certainly shows it. Heaven knows how we got it - must have
slipped in with a shipment of A. dealbata, I suppose. It will be
interesting to see how it does here and if it becomes the invasive weed it
is elsewhere!
--
Sacha
http://www.hillhousenursery.co.uk
South Devon
(remove weeds from address)
'We do not inherit the earth from our ancestors, we borrow it from our
children.'