Plants of
South Australia
Acacia beckleri ssp. beckleri
Fabaceae
Barrier Range Wattle,
Beckler's Rock Wattle
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Regional Species Conservation Assessments per IBRA subregion.
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Near threatened
Rare
Vulnerable
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Adelaide
Arkaroola
Ceduna
Coober Pedy
Hawker
Innamincka
Marla
Marree
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Oodnadatta
Renmark
Wudinna
Keith
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Botanical art

Kath Alcock paintings: 3

Prior names

Acacia beckleri, partly

Racosperma beckleri, partly

Acacia gladiiformis, partly

Common names

Barrier Range Wattle

Beckler's Rock Wattle

Etymology

Acacia from the Greek 'akakia' and derived from 'ake' or 'akis 'meaning a sharp point or thorn and 'akazo' meaning to sharpen. Dioscorides, the Greek physician and botanist used the word in the 1st century AD for the Egyptian thorn tree, Acacia arabica. Beckleri named for Hermann Beckler, early 20th century German-born doctor and botanist who accompanied the Victorian Exploring Expedition including the Burke and Wills Expedition.

Distribution and status

Found on Eyre Peninsula (mainly Gawler Ranges area) and Flinders Ranges to Boolcoomata in the Eastern region, growing mainly on stony hillsides associated with tall or low shrubland vegetation, in mainly shallow compact loamy soil. Also found in New South Wales. Native. Common in South Australia. Common in New South Wales.
Herbarium regions: Gairdner-Torrens, Flinders Ranges, Eastern, Eyre Peninsula, Murray
NRM regions: South Australian Arid Lands, South Australian Murray-Darling Basin
AVH map: SA distribution map (external link)

Plant description

Straggly or erect, compact, bushy shrubs to 3 m high, often with a spread greater than its height and branching near ground level. Stem smooth, reddish-brown and slightly glaucous. Leaves thick, narrow-elliptic to 17 cm long and 22 mm wide, straight or falcate. Inflorescences axillary racemes much shorter than leaves with large, globular, deep yellow flower-heads. Flowering between July and October. Fruits are dark brown broad and flat pods to 11 cm long and 6 mm wide, raised over the seeds. Margins thickened, slightly constricted between the seeds. Seeds are hard, black oblong to elliptical seed to 5 mm long and 2.5 mm wide. Seed embryo type is investing.

Seed collection and propagation

Collect seeds between October and January. Collect mature pods that are turning brown with hard, dark seeds inside. Place the pods in a tray and leave to dry for 1-2 weeks or until the pods begin to split. Then rub the dried pods to dislodge the seeds. Use a sieve to separate any unwanted material. Store the seeds with a desiccant such as dried silica beads or dry rice, in an air tight container in a cool and dry place. From two collections, the seed viability was high, at 80% and 100%. This species has physical dormancy that needs to be overcome for the seed to germinate (e.g. nicking or softening the seed coat).

Seeds stored:
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LocationNo. of seeds
(weight grams)
Number
of plants
Date
collected
Collection number
Collection location
Date
stored
% ViabilityStorage
temperature
BGA 
MSB
2,900 (54.23 g)
2,900 (54.23 g)
302-Nov-2009TST852
Eyre Peninsula
1-Jun-2010100%-18°C
BGA870 (8.4 g)729-Nov-2013KHB723
Flinders Ranges
24-Mar-201585%-18°C
Location: BGA — the seeds are stored at the Adelaide Botanic Gardens, MSB — the seeds are stored at the Millennium Seed Bank, Kew, England.
Number of plants: This is the number of plants from which the seeds were collected.
Collection location: The Herbarium of South Australia's region name.
% Viability: Percentage of filled healthy seeds determined by a cut test or x-ray.
Germination table:
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