Acacia aneura (Mulga)

Acacia aneura tree form habit

Photograph by Mark Marathon. Some rights reserved. (view image details)

Acacia aneura (flowers and leaves).

Photograph by Forest & Kim Starr. Some rights reserved. (view image details)

Acacia aneura - Mulga acacia (Fabaceae) Flowers leaves and seedpods at Kaumalapau Hwy, Lanai, Hawaii.

Photograph by Forest & Kim Starr. Some rights reserved. (view image details)

Growth Characteristics information is sourced from: State Flora Catalog, Government of South Australia Licensed under Creative Commons CC BY 4.0 license.

MULGA FACTS

distribution map showing range of Acacia aneura in Australia

Map is from The Atlas of Living Australia web site, licensed under Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 Australia License

Common Name
Mulga

Description
The Mulga is a tree or large shrub found in the arid outback parts of Australia. In good conditions it can grow to a tree 10 m tall, but in dry areas and poor soils it often grows to only 2m to 3m in height. the phyllodes are long and needle shaped growing to about 10 cm long. The needles have fine hairs giving the plant a greyish silver appearance. The yellow flowers are produced on spikes about 2 cm long. The small bright-yellow flowers form spikes 1.5 to 2 centimeters long. The plant flowers from March to October, but may flower at any time after good rainfall. The seed pods are flat and grow to 5 cm long with edible dark brown seeds.

Habitat
As its name suggests, the Mulga is the dominant tree in the mulga country that covers large areas of arid inland Australia.

Distribution
The Mulga is found in arid areas across the continent from Western Australia, Northern Territory, South Australia, Victoria, New South Wales, and Queensland

Growth Characteristics
Height (m): 4 - 10
Spread (m): 3 - 6
Soil Texture: sand, loam, limestone
Soil pH: acid soils, neutral soils, alkaliine soils
Frost Sensitivity: resistant
Minimum Rainfall (mm): 150
Flower Colour: yellow
Flower Season: winter, spring

(source: SA State Flora Catalog)

Propagation
scarified seed

Wildlife Interest
attracts seed-eating and insect-eating birds

Classification

Class:	Magnoliopsida
Order:	Fabales
Family:	Mimosaceae
Genus:	Acacia
Species:	aneura
Common Name:	Mulga

Relatives in same Genus
  Acacia acanthoclada
  Acacia acinacea
  Acacia acradenia
  Acacia aculeatissima
  Acacia alata
  Acacia amblygona
  Acacia amoena
  Acacia aulacocarpa
  Acacia auriculiformis
  Acacia baileyana
  Acacia beckleri
  Acacia boormanii
  Acacia brachybotrya
  Acacia brachystachya
  Acacia buxifolia
  Acacia caesiella
  Acacia calamifolia
  Acacia cardiophylla
  Acacia chrysocephala
  Acacia cognata
  Acacia colei
  see A-Z list for more ...