For the next four days, perhaps more, BPotD will feature plants from Australia. Today’s photograph is courtesy of Katy S, taken somewhere in Australia.
Where in Australia isn’t too important. As noted in the comments on last year’s BPotD entry on Cootamundra wattle, this species has invasive potential. Though the comments discuss its spread in California, it is similarly invasive in parts of its native Australia, making it one of those infrequent “invasive natives”. It is a fine illustration of the ambiguity of the word native. It is accurate to say it is native to Australia, but far more precise to say it is only native to a narrow ecoregion – a small corridor perhaps 50km (30 miles) wide – in southern New South Wales. Elsewhere in Australia where it has been introduced, it has proven to be invasive (information sourced from World Wide Wattle’s page on Cootamundra wattle).
Strictly speaking, some might disagree with my use of the terminology invasive native, as a definition (see native weed) of the term suggests a different interpretation. In that glossary, invasive native is defined as a species that historically occurs in a certain area, but for some reason has exploded in terms of its population. One example cited is white-tailed deer in parts of North America, with present populations far exceeding historic numbers due to human-created landscape changes. Personally, I think the two terms should not be equated, with invasive native being reserved for those imprecise (but often necessary) instances when nativity is not defined by ecoregional areas, but rather by political boundaries.
There are 11 of these planted on my block in San Francisco and it is the only plant or substance that I am allergic to. The last week in February and the first two in March are hell. (and then I get to sweep up the much-less lovely flowers)
A generous benefactor from Australia who lived on the block donated them all to the city back in the 60s.
Acacia baileyana – Z8 – RHS Index of Garden Plants, Griffiths
Acacia baileyana – Z10-11 – A-Z Encyclopedia of Garden Plants, Brickell, Cole, Zuk
Please include a common name with each of your great pictures. I add many of them to a file I run as a slideshow for a screen saver, and I add a label right on the picture so I know what I’m looking at when it appears. I did find one for this plant, but it was not obvious at first.
Thanks.
Doug.
There are invasive natives, and native weeds. Invasive has to do with behavior, not with origin. Unfortunately the US government officially defined “invasive species” as harmful non-natives. “Weed” is similarly subjective. But wattle we do about it? (Blame Monty Python for that one.)
I see some references to Acacia being in the Mimosaceae family rather than Fabaceae – can anyone explain?
Eric, Wikipedia provides a good summary (Fabaceae), but I’ll summarize, too. Legumes can be divided into the three subfamilies, the Caesalpinioideae, the Mimosoideae and the Papilionoideae. Some taxonomists choose to elevate these to the family level instead of using the broader Fabaceae, in which case Acacia would be in Mimosaceae. For a time, a few of us switched to using the 3-families-of-legumes approach here at UBC, until Quentin expressed doubts that the three family approach will stand the test of time (or, rather, the test of taxonomic science) – considering his expertise with the family, we’ve gone back to using the single family convention.
Thanks, Daniel!