Acacia paradoxa
Common names
kangaroo acacia
Biostatus
Exotic
Category
Vascular
Structural class
Trees & Shrubs - Dicotyledons
Flower colours
Cream, Yellow
Detailed description
Small shrub to 3m high. Twigs furrowed, moderately hairy. Leaves reduced to phyllodes. Phyllodes alternate, glabrous or sparsely hairy, ovate asymmetrical up to 18 x 8 mm. Stipules are usually hardened to form a spine. Inflorescence consists of many golden yellow flowers held in solitary globbose heads. Seed pods are straight or curved and up to 50 mm long.
Similar taxa
This species is easily identified by the combination of small, broad phyllodes and the singular golden yellow globbose flower heads. It also has obvious spines.
Habitat
Open sites usually of low fertility near the coast.
Conservation status
Not applicable
Detailed taxonomy
Family
Fabaceae
Ecology
Flowering
July, August, September, October
Year naturalised
1911
Origin
W. and E. Australia
Reason for introduction
Ornamental
Tolerances
Extremely hardy withstands drought, has the ability to persist in low fertility sand and sandstone country. Tolerates salt and frosts.
Life cycle and dispersal
Large quantities of seed produced. Seed probably remains viable for a long period. Not known to sucker. Spread by people as an ornamental hedge plant. Spreads locally by wind and gravity.
Other information
Etymology
acacia: Derived from Greek ‘akazo’ to sharpen, meaning point; spine or thorn.
paradoxa: From Greek ‘paradoxos’ = unexpected, strange, marvellous
Environmental Weed (2024)
This plant is named in a list of 386 environmental weeds in New Zealand 2024 prepared by DOC. 759 candidate species were considered for inclusion on this new comprehensive list of environmental weeds in New Zealand. The species considered were drawn from published lists of weed species, lists of plants that must be reported or managed by law if observed, existing national and regional programmes and agreements for pest management, and species already managed by the Department of Conservation (DOC). Candidate species were then assessed to see if they were fully naturalised and whether they have more than minor impacts in natural ecosystems. Read the full report here.
NVS code
The National Vegetation Survey (NVS) Databank is a physical archive and electronic databank containing records of over 94,000 vegetation survey plots - including data from over 19,000 permanent plots. NVS maintains a standard set of species code abbreviations that correspond to standard scientific plant names from the Ngä Tipu o Aotearoa - New Zealand Plants database.
ACAPAR