Mulga
| Mulga | ||||||||||||
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Mulga ( Acacia aneura ) |
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| Acacia aneura | ||||||||||||
| F. Garbage. ex Benth. |
Mulga ( Acacia aneura ) is a species of acacia endemic to Australia that, together with other species, dominates around 1.5 million km² of the interior. As a rule, the savannah dominated by it is also called mulga. The Western Australian Mulga Shrublands , a large, arid area that is maintained by the World Wildlife Fund as an ecoregion in the interior of Western Australia, is named after this acacia species.
features
Mulga is a shrub or tree and can reach heights of up to 18 meters. The branches have white or red-glandular hairs between resinous ribs. Young twigs are dark brown, also dirty black-brown and resinous.
The leaves are reduced to phyllodes (hence the species name aneura = "nerve-free"); these are straight or curved, rather flat. The length is 2.5 to 9 (up to 12.5) centimeters with a width of 0.8 to 9 millimeters. Between the longitudinal nerves, the phyllodes are covered with hair, sometimes resinous.
The 7 to 30 mm long inflorescences are individually axillary . The stems of the flowers are 3 to 10 millimeters long. The ears are seven to 30 millimeters long. The flowers are five-fold. The sepals are spatulate or oblong, 0.5 to 1.1 millimeters long. The crown is 0.9 to 1.8 millimeters long, glabrous or rarely hairy. The stamens are two to 3.5 millimeters long. The ovary is densely covered with scale-shaped hair. The pods are up to 10 centimeters long, 7 to 17 millimeters wide, flat and straight. The seeds are hard, dark, three to six millimeters long and 2.2 to 4.5 millimeters wide.
distribution
In Australia, the species is widespread with the exception of the state of Victoria . Mainly it occurs south of the 20th parallel from the Indian Ocean to almost the Great Dividing Range , on loamy and sandy soils. In pure stands it forms open forests, savannas or shrub trees. In eucalyptus forests it often forms the understory.
For the vegetation dominated by the Mulga see Flora of Australia .
use
Mulga is of great economic importance as fodder.
The Aborigines used the plant in many ways: The seeds can be ground into bread, and the sweet stem resin and insect galls are also eaten. The hard wood is processed into boomerangs, spear throwers and battle shields.
Systematics
There are more than ten varieties of the Mulga bush ( Acacia aneura ):
- Acacia aneura var. Aneura
- Acacia aneura var. Argentea Pedley
- Acacia aneura var. Ayersiana (Maconochie) L. Pedley
- Acacia aneura var. Brachystachya (Benth.) Maiden
- Acacia aneura var. Conifera B.R.Randell
- Acacia aneura var. Fuliginea Pedley
- Acacia aneura var. Intermedia Pedley
- Acacia aneura var. Latifolia J.M.Black
- Acacia aneura var. Macrocarpa B.R. Randell
- Acacia aneura var. Major Pedley
- Acacia aneura var. Microcarpa Pedley
- Acacia aneura var. Pilbarana Pedley
- Acacia aneura var. Stenocarpa Benth.
- Acacia aneura var. Tenuis Pedley
Individual evidence
literature
- L. Fehling: Australia. Nature travel guide . Hupe Verlag, Munich 2003, ISBN 3-932084-25-X
