About Acacia gunnii Benth.
Acacia gunnii Benth. (common name ploughshare wattle) is a diffuse shrub that grows prostrate or erect, typically reaching a maximum height of 1 m (3 ft 3 in). It usually has hairy branchlets. Its phyllodes are more or less sessile and variable in shape, measuring 4–15 mm (0.16–0.59 in) long and 1.5–4 mm (0.059–0.157 in) wide. Most phyllodes have a sharply pointed, rigid projection that forms a rounded or triangular angle on the upper edge, located near or below the middle of the phyllode. Persistent stipules are present at the base of each phyllode. Flowers are arranged in spherical heads that grow in leaf axils, attached to a peduncle 4–10 mm (0.16–0.39 in) long. Each flower head contains 20 to 30 cream-coloured to pale yellow flowers. Flowering typically occurs between July and October. After flowering, it produces firmly papery to thinly leathery seed pods that are up to 40 mm (1.6 in) long and 4–5 mm (0.16–0.20 in) wide. The mature pods are dark brown to blackish and glabrous. The seeds are broadly elliptic to spherical, about 3 mm (0.12 in) long, and do not have an aril. This species is widespread and locally abundant in eastern Australia. It occurs along the Great Dividing Range and its associated slopes, ranging from the Grampians in Victoria, through New South Wales and the Australian Capital Territory, to near Stanthorpe in Queensland, where it grows in open Eucalyptus forest. Additional populations are found in the far south-east of South Australia, and in Tasmania, where it grows in coastal heath.
