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An erect or spreading shrub to small tree, to 6 metres tall.
It is found in wet and dry sclerophyll forest, woodlands and heath, on a range of soils. It grows all along the NSW coastal and tablelands subdivisions, extending into the south western slopes, as far west as around Albury. It grows through the approximate southern half of Victoria (mostly close to the coast) and grows around Mt Gambier and Robe in South Australia. It extends into south-eastern Queensland, as far north as Caboolture and also occurs over much of Tasmania.
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.
The phyllodes (modified leaves) are narrowly elliptic, to linear-oblanceolate, to 14 cm long and to 1.5 cm wide, green to blue-green, sometimes with a small point (mucro) at the apex).
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, up to 30 very small staminate flowers are produced in globular heads, up to 5 mm diameter, which are held in groups of 2 to 4, in the leaf axils; pale yellow to white, occurring in spring.
The seed pods are straight, to 10 cm long and 0.5 cm wide.
Reported to be adaptable in cultivation. Grows well in sunny, well-drained positions, in most soils. Has a desirable erect and upright habit.
Frost hardy and suitable for low maintenance.
Acacias can suffer from a number of pests, including borers, scale, galls and leaf miners. Growing plants suitable to your local environment minimises these occurring.
Propagation is easy from scarified seed by covering with boiling water for 24 hours and discarding any seeds still floating on the surface.
Most wattles regenerate from seed after fire with some species exhibiting suckering from the basal areas.
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.
stricta – Latin – referring to its erect / upright habit.
This species is not considered to be at risk of extinction in the wild.
NSW Flora Online (PlantNET) – Acacia stricta profile page. https://plantnet.rbgsyd.nsw.gov.au/cgi-bin/NSWfl.pl?page=nswfl&lvl=sp&name=Acacia~stricta
Australian National Herbarium – Acacia stricta profile page http://www.anbg.gov.au/acacia/species/A-stricta.html
Wrigley, J.W. & Fagg, M.I. (2001). Australian Native Plants – Propagation, cultivation and use in landscaping. 4th edition. New Holland Publishers, Pty. Ltd. Australia.