Acacia atrox subsp. planiticola (Fabaceae: Mimosoideae), a new threatened subspecies from the North Western Plains of New South Wales, Australia

Abstract

Acacia atrox Kodela subsp. planiticola Kodela & L.M.Copel., a new, rare and threatened subspecies, is described and illustrated. Notes are also given on its distribution, habitat, etymology and conservation status. The subspecies is known only from a single population in Kirramingly Nature Reserve on the North Western Plains of New South Wales, Australia. With its unusual, sharply pungent-pointed, sessile, basally dilated phyllodes, subsp. planiticola appears to be closely related to typical Acacia atrox Kodela, and both taxa are thought to be clonal with plants spreading vegetatively beneath the ground via root suckers. Although all plants are in a conservation reserve, Acacia atrox subsp. planiticola is considered threatened due to its small population size and its vulnerability to stochastic events