Kangaroo thorn

Acacia paradoxa

Erect or spreading shrub 1–4 m high; bark finely fissured, brownish grey; branchlets ± terete with low ridges, ± hairy. Stipules spinescent, slender, mostly 5–15 mm long.

Phyllodes lanceolate to narrowly elliptic, straight or slightly curved, 0.8–3 cm long, 2.5–7 mm wide, glabrous to hairy, midvein and marginal veins prominent, lateral veins conspicuous or faint, margins often ± undulate, apex pungent-pointed or acute with a mucro; 1 small gland near base; pulvinus to 0.5 mm long.

Inflorescences simple, 1 or rarely 2 in axil of phyllodes; peduncles 6–20 mm long, usually glabrous; heads globose, 20–45-flowered, 5–10 mm diam., yellow to bright yellow.

Pods ± straight, raised over seeds, ± straight-sided or irregularly ± constricted between seeds, 2–7 cm long, 3–5 mm wide, densely hairy; seeds longitudinal; funicle filiform or expanded towards seed.

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