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Acacia ingramii is a tall, dense shrub or small tree that may reach a height of 7 metres, spreading to several metres wide.
This rare wattle is found in and around the gorge country, east of Armidale in northern New South Wales. It is confined to an area between Walcha, Dorrigo and Guy Fawkes River National Park further north with many records east of Armidale. In spring, the gorge country lights when Acacia ingramii flowers. It is one of the most spectacular floral displays in northern New South Wales.
It is found on steep gorge-country in dry sclerophyll woodland and forest.
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 1.
Phyllodes are linear, to about 14 cm long by only 0.3 cm wide, with a small hook. They are said to carry two glands on the margin. One is near the base and the other about halfway along. (Close examination of our garden specimens revealed a prominent basal gland on all phyllodes but no evidence of a second gland).
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, bright yellow staminate flowers are held in globular heads or clusters with up to 25 flowers in each head with heads about 6 mm in diameter, and with heads produced in racemes up to 5 cm long. Flowers cover plants in spring.
Blooms are followed by linear pods (see thumbnail), to 90 mm long by 8 mm wide.
Acacia ingramii will light up your garden and can be cultivated as an eye-catching specimen plant.
Not a lot is known about its cultivation potential and it is somewhat rare. However, plants may be able to be sourced in the Armidale-area of NSW and further afield.
Likely a plant that can tolerate a cold climate and frost.
Propagate from seeds and possibly cuttings. Seeds require soaking in boiling water. We are still experimenting with Acacia ingramii cuttings.
Although classified as rare, nearly all populations are protected in places such as Oxley Wild Rivers National Park and Guy Fawkes River National Park that covers most of the eastern gorge country.
Most wattles die in a fire and regenerate from seed. Some species can sucker from basal parts and roots.
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.
ingramii – is named in Honour of Cyril Keith Ingram (1912-2002), a noted educator and botanist in NSW. Ingram originally collected the species which was named in 1978. He was known for having one of the largest private herbaria ever recorded, amounting to 37,000 specimens.
This species is not known to be at risk of extinction in the wild.
NSW Flora Online (PlantNET) – Acacia ingramii profile page https://plantnet.rbgsyd.nsw.gov.au/cgi-bin/NSWfl.pl?page=nswfl&lvl=sp&name=Acacia~ingramii
Wattle – Acacias of Australia – Acacia ingramii profile page https://apps.lucidcentral.org/wattle/text/entities/acacia_ingramii.htm