Name:
Sweet Wattle
Botanical name:
Acacia suaveolens
Description:
Sweet Wattle is a shrub with bluish-grey foliage which grows to 1.8 metres high, but occasionally may be prostrate (ground-hugging). It flowers from autumn into winter, with sprays of pale lemon-yellow globular flower heads.
The flowers are sweetly scented, hence both the common name and the scientific name (suaveolens is botanical Latin, meaning sweet-scented). These are followed by distinctive oblong shaped pods.
It naturally occurs in heath and forest on sandy soils. In NSW it occurs on the coast and tablelands, and occurs in all the eastern states including Tasmania.
Where can Sweet Wattle be seen in the Parklands?
In the Parklands this species is found in remnants of the Eastern Suburbs Banksia Scrub, an Endangered Ecological Community.
The best place to see Sweet Wattle in the Parklands is in the York Road Remnant where it occurs commonly. Although fenced off, many good examples may be seen from the nature strip.
Elsewhere, in the Park proper it is very scarce, but an excellent example of an uncommon prostrate form grows at the edge of the pines above Kensington Pond in the south-western corner.
Frank Hemmings