Acacia ligulata (Umbrella Bush)

Acacia ligulata habit

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

Acacia ligulata flowers Sturt NP near Tibooburra NSW

Photograph by Uschnabel. Some rights reserved. (view image details)

Acacia ligulata phyllodes mucros Sturt NP near Tibooburra NSW

Photograph by Uschnabel. 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.

UMBRELLA BUSH FACTS

distribution map showing range of Acacia ligulata in Australia

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

Common Name
Umbrella Bush

Other Names
Sandhill Wattle, Dune Wattle, Small Coobah, Marpoo, Watarka, Wirra

Description
The Umbrella Bush is an erect or spreading shrub growing 2 m to 4 m tall. The phyllodes are light to blue green in colour, long and narrow with a slight curve, growing 3 cm to 10 cm long and up to 1 cm wide. The phyllode tip is blunt with small hard point, and has a prominent yellowish midvein. Flowering is in in late winter and spring. The yellow or orange flowers are produced in globular flower heads about 5 mm in diameter. The flower heads grow in clusters of one to five from phyllode axils. The seed pods, are light brown, curved, and grow 5 cm to 10 cm long and 5 mm to 10 mm wide. The seeds are black and oval shaped, up to 3.5mm long.

Habitat
Sand dunes, sand plains, mulga shrublands, bluebush shrubland, woodlands, mallee.

Distribution
Umbrella Bush is found in arid areas of central and southern Australia - Western Australia, southern half of Northern Territory, south West Queensland, western New South Wales, South Australia.

Growth Characteristics
Height (m): 2 - 4
Spread (m): 4 - 6
Soil Texture: sand, loam, clay limestone
Soil pH: acid soils, neutral soils, alkaliine soils
Frost Sensitivity: resistant
Minimum Rainfall (mm): 150
Flower Colour: yellow
Flower Season: 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:	ligulata
Common Name:	Umbrella Bush

Relatives in same Genus
  Acacia acanthoclada
  Acacia acinacea
  Acacia acradenia
  Acacia aculeatissima
  Acacia alata
  Acacia amblygona
  Acacia amoena
  Acacia aneura
  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
  see A-Z list for more ...