Acacia continua

Thorn wattle
In Mutawintji National Park
Scientific classification
Kingdom:	Plantae
Clade:	Tracheophytes
Clade:	Angiosperms
Clade:	Eudicots
Clade:	Rosids
Order:	Fabales
Family:	Fabaceae
Subfamily:	Caesalpinioideae
Clade:	Mimosoid clade
Genus:	Acacia
Species:	A. continua
Binomial name
Acacia continua Benth.[1]
Occurrence data from AVH
Synonyms[1]
Racosperma continuum (Benth.) Pedley Acacia colletioides auct. non Benth.: Bentham, G. (May 1855) Acacia colletioides auct. non Benth.: Mueller, F.J.H. von (1863)

Acacia continua, commonly known as thorn wattle or thorny wattle,^[2] is a species of flowering plant in the family Fabaceae and is endemic to south-eastern continental Australia. It is an opening branching, rigid shrub with more or less terete, sharply pointed phyllodes that are continuous with the branchlets, spherical heads of golden yellow flowers and linear, curved to coiled, leathery pods.

Acacia continua is an openly-branched, rigid shrub that typically grows up to 2 m (6 ft 7 in) high and 0.7 m (2 ft 4 in) wide and has ribbed, glabrous branchlets. Its phyllodes are continuous with the branchlets, straight or with the ends turned down, 20–40 mm (0.79–1.57 in) long, 1.5–2 mm (0.059–0.079 in) in diameter and sharply pointed. The flowers are borne in one or two spherical heads in axils on a peduncle 2–6 mm (0.079–0.236 in) long with prominent dark brown bracts at the base. Each head is 6–10 mm (0.24–0.39 in) in diameter with about 30 golden yellow flowers. Flowering occurs from July to October, and the pods are linear, curved to once-coiled, constricted between and raised over the seeds, up to 80 mm (3.1 in) long and 3–4 mm (0.12–0.16 in) wide, leathery and glabrous. The seeds are elliptic, dull brown, 3–8 mm (0.12–0.31 in) long with a club-shaped aril.^{[2][3][4][5][6][7]}

Acacia continua was first formally described in 1864 George Bentham in his Flora Australiensis.^[8][9] The specific epithet is taken from the Latin word continua meaning uninterrupted, in reference to the phyllodes being continuous with the branchlets.^[5]

In New South Wales, A.continua is found in central and western parts on rocky ridges and watercourses in mallee and Callitris woodland.^[2] In South Australia the species often occurs on the Eyre Peninsula and Flinders and Mount Lofty Ranges, extending south to the coast. It is found growing on hard sandy alkaline or calcareous soils in open woodland, scrubland and Triodia grassland communities.^[5]

• List of Acacia species