Acacia tortuosa (L.) Willd.
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Authority
Isley, Duane. 1973. Leguminosae of the United States: I. Subfamily. Mimosoideae. Mem. New York Bot. Gard. 25 (1): 1-152.
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Family
Mimosaceae
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Scientific Name
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Description
Species Description - Glabrate, spiny shrub or small, coarse-branched, wide-crowned tree to 4 m. Leaves mostly clustered from spurs, bipinnate; leafstalk of a short (2-5 mm) petiole and narrowly canaliculate rachis, the channels hirsutulous-ciliate, gland distal on petiole, conspicuous and usually elongate, often an ancillary gland between distal pinnae; pinnae (U.S. forms) 4-8 pairs; leaflets 15-20 pairs, oblong, ca 4 mm, reticulate-veined, glabrate. Stipular spines to 5 cm, often fused at base, gray to brown. Flowers in fragrant, yellow heads ca 1 cm diam, clustered from spurs. Legume substipitate, oblong, straight or curved, subterete and irregularly moniliform, 4-10 cm long, 5-7 mm diam, persistent and essentially indehiscent; sutures inevident; valves woody, glabrous or pubescent.
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Discussion
Poponax tortuosa (L.) Raf. CN 2n = 26 (Atchison, 1948). Reports of 2n = 26 for A. tortuosa of Turner and Fearing (1960a) refer to A. schaffneri var. bravoensis of this treatment. My disposition of the rather different A. tortuosa auct. of Texas, and the Antillean A. tortuosa (from whence comes the type) has previously been presented (Isely, 1969). Acacia tortuosa resembles the more common A. farnesiana in aspect and reticulate leaflets, but differs in the usually elongate petiolar gland, hirsute leaf rachis, shorter petioles, more numerous pinnae, frequently fused thorns which are almost never white, and the slender, submoniliform pod.
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Distribution
S Florida. Roadsides and shell middens. Local. March-June, possibly all year. West Indies.
United States of America North America| West Indies|