Alice Springs Desert Park
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The Witchetty Bush (Acacia kempeana), also known as Wanderrie Wattle or Granite Wattle, in the subfamily Mimosoideae of family Fabaceae, is endemic to the arid regions of Central and Western Australia.
Like most species of Acacia species, the Witchetty Bush has phyllodes rather than true leaves, that have a narrowly elliptic to narrowly elliptic, sometimes narrowly oblanceolate shape. The leaves are flat and are grey-green or blue-green in colour. Usually flowering between April and September, with bright yellow flowers, in cylindrical clusters about 1 to 2 cm in length. The seed pods are flattish and papery, about 7 cm long and 1.5 cm wide.
The Witchetty Bush grows as a spreading shrub or tree with multiple stems, between 1 to 6 m and up to 10 m in height. The bark is furrowed, with grey to brown bark and terete, glabrous terete branchlets.
The Witchetty Bush (Acacia kempeana) is also where the larvae of the cossid moth (Endoxyla leucomochla), known as the Witchetty Grub (also spelt as Witjuti) is found. This large grub is found mainly in the woody roots of the Witchetty Bush and can grow up to 6 cm and longer. It is an important plant for the Indigenous People of Australia, as they can collect up to as many as 50 grubs from the roots of one reasonable sized bush in a good season.
- Scientific classification
- Kingdom: Plantae
- Phylum: Charophyta
- Class: Equisetopsida
- Subclass: Magnoliidae
- Superorder: Rosanae
- Order: Fabales
- Family: Fabaceae
- Genus: Acacia
- Species: Acacia kempeana
Footnote & References
- Acacia kempeana F.Muell., Wattle, Acacias of Australia, https://apps.lucidcentral.org/wattle/text/entities/acacia_kempeana.htm
- Acacia kempeana F.Muell., Witchetty Bush, Atlas of Living Australia, https://bie.ala.org.au/species/https://id.biodiversity.org.au/taxon/apni/51436560
- Acacia kempeana F.Muell., Witchetty Bush, Western Australian Herbarium (1998–). Florabase—the Western Australian Flora. Department of Biodiversity, Conservation and Attractions. https://florabase.dbca.wa.gov.au/browse/profile/3399
- Acacia kempeana F.Muell., Flora of Australia, https://profiles.ala.org.au/opus/foa/profile/Acacia%20kempeana
- Witchetty Bush (Acacia kempeana), iNaturalistAU, https://inaturalist.ala.org.au/taxa/447033-Acacia-kempeana
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