About Acacia conferta A.Cunn. ex Benth.
Acacia conferta A.Cunn. ex Benth., also known as crowded-leaf wattle, is a rounded shrub or tree that typically grows to a maximum height of 4 metres (13 feet). It has slender branchlets covered with more or less spreading, crisped or curved hairs. Its phyllodes are crowded onto short stem projections; they are flat, shaped from linear to narrowly oblong, and measure 5 to 12 millimetres (0.20 to 0.47 inches) long by 1 to 2 millimetres (0.039 to 0.079 inches) wide. A small gland is located up to 2 millimetres (0.079 inches) above the base of each phyllode. Flowers grow in single spherical heads that emerge from leaf axils, held on peduncles 8 to 20 millimetres (0.31 to 0.79 inches) long. Each flower head usually contains 20 to 25 bright yellow flowers. Its main flowering period runs from April to August. After flowering, it produces firmly papery seed pods that are usually up to 60 millimetres (2.4 inches) long and 10 to 15 millimetres (0.39 to 0.59 inches) wide. The pods are hairless and covered in a white powdery bloom. This wattle occurs on the western slopes and plains of New South Wales, beginning north of Moree and Warialda. Its range extends north into south-eastern Queensland, reaching as far west as Blackall, east to the Proserpine coast, with one recorded collection from the area near Cairns. It grows in sandy or loamy soils within dry sclerophyll forest or Eucalyptus woodland. This wattle species is sometimes cultivated in horticulture. It can be propagated by either scarifying the seeds or treating them with boiling water. It prefers a sunny growing position with good drainage, and will grow in most soil types. It is also frost tolerant, able to withstand temperatures as low as −7 °C (19 °F).
