FFF651 - PRICKLY MOSES

Winter in Australia is generally milder and devoid of extreme weather as may be seen in Northern Hemisphere regions the closer one gets to the North Pole. Add to that the fact that most native flora is evergreen and an added bonus is that many of the native flowers can bloom in Winter to early Spring. An example of that is the many Acacia trees and shrubs, one of which is seen here.

Acacia verticillata (prickly Moses; prickly-leaved wattle; star-leaved acacia; prickly mimosa; whorl-leaved acacia) is a perennial shrub to small tree in the Fabaceae family, native to Australia and Tasmania. The species is a common understorey shrub in both wet and dry sclerophyll forests as well as scrub and heath. In coastal environments it will often have much wider leaves as opposed to the regular needle-like nature of inland specimens.

Acacia verticillata stems are ribbed and are sparsely to densely hairy. The leaves are small sharply pointed phyllodes (false leaves) are up to 17 x 3 mm. and 1.5-2.5 mm wide. They have one prominent vein and 1-2 less prominent veins. Its inflorescences which are numerous consist of numerous pale yellow flowers arranged on short cylindrical spikes that extend beyond the leaves.

Its seeds are in elongated pods (5-10 cm long) which are sparsely hairy when young and glabrous when mature. This trees dispersal is by seed. Trees are often covered by a fungally-induced galls.

On 1 September 2016, the Reserve Bank of Australia released a replacement of the polymer five dollar note which includes a stylised depiction of Acacia verticillata (subspecies ovoidea).

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