Image Could Not Be FoundHave you ever wondered why our national colours are green and gold? Australia's National Floral Emblem, seen on Australia’s Coat of Arms, is Acacia pycnantha, the Golden Wattle; the green and gold colours of the foliage and flowers provide Australia's official colours.
Acacias belong to the family Mimosaceae. Nearly 1000 species of Acacia are found in Australia. Acacias grow over vast areas of Australia and occupy a wide range of differing habitats. They are particularly common in the arid and dry sub-tropical regions of the country.
Image Could Not Be FoundAustralian acacias are generally small to large shrubs but there are a few grow into large trees. Acacias have both true leaves and phyllodes or modified leaf stalks. The colour of the foliage ranges from light or dark green to blue or silver-
grey.
Image Could Not Be FoundMany of us welcome the flowering of wattles as signalling the coming of spring as many species start to flower in late winter. However a wattle can be found in flower somewhere at any time of the year.
Image Could Not Be FoundThe tiny individual flowers are clustered together into an inflorescence that is either a globular head or a cylindrical spike. Acacia flowers vary in colour through cream, pale yellow to
orange and gold.
Following flowering, seeds develop in pods that vary in size and shape between species and may be flat or cylindrical, short or elongated. After a few weeks of ripening the pods burst open to release the seeds that can then lie dormant in the soil for many years.
Image Could Not Be FoundAcacias are generally quite fast growing, with many of them not living a long time (10-20 yrs), although a few species may live longer than fifty years, especially those species found in drier areas eg mulga.
Image Could Not Be FoundAll parts of various Acacia species have been used by humans for varying purposes. Aborigines ground dried wattle seeds between stones to form flour which was then baked as a damper.
A feature of many Acacias is their dense hard wood. The Aboriginal people used wood from different species for just about anything that they made out of wood, such as clubs, spears, spear heads, digging sticks, shields, woomeras, boomerangs etc.
Image Could Not Be FoundEuropeans too recognised the value of the wood from some species and used the wood from a few species for cabinet making and ornamental work, including coach building and for beer barrels. Other species were used for such things as gunstocks and even machine bearings, as
well as fence posts.
Acacia melanoxylon (
Blackwood) is the best known and most highly valued temperate Acacia, producing sought after timber. Tannin has been extracted from the bark of a number of species for use in tanning leather. The most important tannin producing species include Acacia dealbata (Silver Wattle), A. mearnsii (Black Wattle) and A. pycnantha (Golden Wattle).
Image Could Not Be FoundThe quick-growing characteristics of many of the larger Acacia species makes them useful for fodder, the control of soil erosion and for providing fuel for cooking and heating. On our travels into drier parts of the country many of us delight in
camp fires of mulga (Acacia aneura) wood, or despair as the sharp points of old roots stake our tyres.
Wattles have been so significant to our social and economic development that we have a special day to celebrate them. Wattle Day, with its long history is celebrated on the 1st of September each year.
Image Could Not Be FoundAll of us have seen wattle and probably used it or its products too. However it is so common and widespread that it’s common to overlook it, and I have done that in taking wildflower photos. I have realised that often I simply overlook the wattles.
Hopefully others have some shots of wattle and some special “Acacia moments” to tell?
A fuller version of this post can be found in
this blog
Cheers,
Val.
| J and V
"Not everything that can be counted counts, and not everything that counts can be counted."
- Albert Einstein
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