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Acacia parramattensis is known as the Sydney Green Wattle or Parramatta (western Sydney) Wattle and is a spreading tree that may reach a height of 15 metres, spreading out to several metres.
It has a natural distribution in NSW, as far north as around Yengo National park (north-west of Sydney), then extending south through the central coast and southern tablelands mostly, as well as the south-western slopes and south coast. It is likely another wattle that has spread beyond its natural range along road verges and through seed spread from planting.
It is often found in dry and wet sclerophyll forests and woodlands and also in copses in open areas such as paddock edges and road verges etc.
Australian Wattles at least, can be broadly placed into 1 of 3 recognisable groups:
Phyllodes and bipinnate leaves are always alternate to clustered, never opposite.
This wattle belongs to Group 3.
The leaves are bipinnate and dark green. There is a large gland at the base of each pair of pinnae and sometimes a smaller gland between pinnae (see thumbnail).
Acacia spp. produce small 5-merous flowers, with 5 very small petals partly-fused into a short tube which sits above a fused calyx. The stamens are the main feature which are produced in high numbers per flower (staminate flowers), surrounding a single style. In this species, flowers are arranged into globular heads, to 8 mm in diameter, consisting of up to 50 cream flowers, with heads arranged in terminal panicles or racemes, displayed in summer.
Pods are linear and clothed with fine hairs that are pressed close to the surface, to about 11 cm long and to 0.8 cm wide.
Acacia parramattensis is a hardy, reliable garden species.
Acacia parramattensis has proved to be hardy, free flowering, drought resistant and frost tolerant. The species flowers out of the “normal” spring wattle season.
It is known to be cultivated and used extensively in bushland regeneration projects. It grows well in a copse if desired and is often found in dense copses in regenerating areas. It can be short lived, with copses producing a lot of dead stems on average.
Propagate from seed that should be treated with boiling water before sowing.
The type specimen was collected in Hazelbrook, the Blue Mountains in 1960 and named by Mary Tindale.
The Parramatta Wattle can be confused with A. decurrens. This latter species has high, distinctive ribs on the branchlets, flowers in winter-early spring (with A. parramattensis in summer), and has larger and more widely-spaced pinnules (leaflets). A. parramattensis usually has interjugary glands.
Acacia is a highly diverse genus, with over 1500 recognised species (placing it in the top-10 most-diverse plant genera) occurring in most continents except for Europe. Australia has about 970 spp., most of which are endemic. There are also about 10 exotic species. NSW has about 235 recognised species. Some species have become weeds in other states outside of their natural range (e.g., wattles from Western Australia into NSW and vice versa).
Acacia – from Greek Akakia – which refers to an Ancient Greek preparation made from one of the many species; the name of which derives from akis, meaning “thorn” – referring to the thorns of species in Africa.
parramattensis – Latin – referring to Parramatta in Sydney; where the species was once commonly found.
This species is not considered to be at risk of extinction in the wild.
NSW Flora Online (PlantNET) – Acacia parramattensis profile page https://plantnet.rbgsyd.nsw.gov.au/cgi-bin/NSWfl.pl?page=nswfl&lvl=sp&name=Acacia~parramattensis
Wattle – Acacias of Australia Online – Acacia parramattensis profile page https://apps.lucidcentral.org/wattle/text/entities/acacia_parramattensis.htm
Wrigley, J.W. & Fagg, M.I. (2001). Australian Native Plants – Propagation, cultivation and use in landscaping. 4th edition. New Holland Publishers, Pty. Ltd. Australia.