{{Short description|Species of legume}} {{Use dmy dates|date=July 2019}} {{Speciesbox |name=Weeping myall |image = Acacia pendula.jpg |genus = Acacia |species =pendula |authority = [[Allan Cunningham (botanist)|A.Cunn.]] ex [[George Don|G.Don]], 1832 |range_map = Acacia pendulaDistMap681.png |range_map_caption = Occurrence data from [[Australasian Virtual Herbarium|AVH]] }}
'''''Acacia pendula''''', commonly known as the '''weeping myall''',<ref name=pnet/> '''true myall''', '''myall''', '''silver-leaf boree''',<ref name=lucid>{{cite web|url=https://keys.lucidcentral.org/keys/v3/scotia/key/Plants%20and%20Fungi%20of%20south%20western%20NSW/Media/Html/Acacia_pendula.htm|title=''Acacia pendula''|access-date=4 August 2019|work=Factsheet|publisher=Lucid Central}}</ref> '''boree''',<ref name=pnet/> and '''nilyah''',<ref name=anbg>{{cite web|url=https://www.anbg.gov.au/gnp/interns-2007/acacia-pendula.html|title=''Acacia pendula'' Weeping Myall, Boree, Nilyah, Balaar|access-date=4 August 2019|work=Growing Native Plants|publisher=[[Australian National Botanic Gardens]]}}</ref> is a species of [[acacia|wattle]], which is native to [[Australia]]. The 1889 book ''The Useful Native Plants of Australia'' records that common names included "Weeping Myall", "True Myall", and [[Indigenous Australians|Indigenous people]] of western areas of New South Wales and Queensland referred to the plant as "Boree" and "Balaar".<ref name=Maiden/>
==Description== [[Image:Acacia-pendula-bark.jpg|thumb|right|''Acacia pendula'' bark]] The tree typically grows to a height of {{cvt|5|to|13|m}}<ref name=pnet/> and a width of {{cvt|4|to|6|m}}<ref name=William/> and has an erect, pendulous to spreading habit. It has hard fissured grey bark on the trunk and limbs. It has pendulous branches with angled or flattened branchlets that are covered in short fine hairs but becomes [[Glabrous (botany)|glabrous]] as it matures. The grey-green narrow [[phyllode]]s are about {{cvt|4|to|14|cm}} in length and {{cvt|3|to|10|mm}} wide and have a narrowly elliptic to very narrowly elliptic or sometimes narrowly oblong-elliptic shape and can be straight or curved The phyllodes have many longitudinal indistinct veins, a subacute apex with [[wikt:mucro|mucro]] and one gland near base.<ref name=pnet>{{cite web|url=http://plantnet.rbgsyd.nsw.gov.au/cgi-bin/NSWfl.pl?page=nswfl&lvl=sp&name=Acacia~pendula|title=''Acacia pendula'' A.Cunn. & G.Don|work=PlantNet|access-date=4 August 2019|publisher=Royal Botanic Garden, Sydney}}</ref> It flowers in the summer and autumn from around November to May and produces yellow flowers. The [[inflorescence]]s mostly occur in groups of two to five on an axillary axis. The spherical flower heads have a diameter of {{cvt|3|to|7|mm}} and contain 10 to 20 bright yellow flowers. The papery to leathery green [[seed pod]]s that form after flowering are flat and straight to strongly curved and age to a brown colour. The pods are irregularly constricted between each seed and are {{cvt|3|to|9|cm}} in length and {{cvt|10|to|20|mm}}.<ref name=pnet/> Seeds are often collected between October and January.<ref name=anbg/>
==Taxonomy== The species was formally described by the botanist [[George Don]] in 1832 as part of the work ''A General History of Dichlamydeous Plants''. It was reclassified as ''Racosperma pendulum'' by [[Leslie Pedley]] in 1987 then transferred back to genus ''Acacia'' in 2014.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://bie.ala.org.au/species/http://id.biodiversity.org.au/node/apni/2898562#names|title=''Acacia pendula'' A.Cunn. ex G.Don|access-date=4 August 2019|work=Atlas of Living Australia|publisher=[[Global Biodiversity Information Facility]]}}</ref> The [[botanical name|specific epithet]] is in reference to the pendulous habit of the tree.<ref name=pnet/> It is derived from the [[Latin]] word ''pendere'' meaning 'to hang down'.<ref name=anbg/>
==Distribution== It occurs naturally in dry [[outback]] areas in [[Queensland]], [[New South Wales]], and [[Victoria (Australia)|Victoria]]. In New South Wales the tree has a disjunct but widespread distribution throughout inland areas, usually to the west of the upper [[Hunter Valley]]. It is often situated on major river floodplains growing as part of woodlands, sometimes as the dominant species, where it grows well in heavy clay soils.<ref name=pnet/> In all states it is found to the west of the [[Great Dividing Range]] growing in alluvial soils consisting of sand, gravel, silt and clay in areas that receive {{cvt|400|to|600|mm}} of annual rainfall.<ref name=anbg/>
==Uses and cultivation== In ''The Useful Native Plants of Australia'' it was noted that "Stock are very fond of the leaves of this tree, especially in seasons of drought, and for this reason, and because they eat down the seedlings, it has almost become exterminated in parts of the colonies."<ref name=Maiden>{{cite book | author=J. H. Maiden | year=1889 | title=The useful native plants of Australia : Including Tasmania | publisher= Turner and Henderson, Sydney | url=https://primo-slnsw.hosted.exlibrisgroup.com/primo-explore/fulldisplay?docid=SLNSW_ALMA21105097830002626&context=L&vid=SLNSW&search_scope=EEA&tab=default_tab&lang=en_US}}</ref>
The tree is available commercially as seedlings<ref name=William>{{cite web|url=https://www.advancedtrees.com.au/tree-index-2/advanced-evergreens/native-evergreens/167-acacia-pendula.html|title=''Acacia pendula'' Weeping Myall, Boree|access-date=4 August 2019|publisher=Mt William Advanced Tree Nursery}}</ref> or in seed form and has many desirable properties in areas of low rainfall since it is [[drought tolerant]]. It is also frost tolerant and will grow in heavy clay soils. It is useful as a shelter-tree or as a windbreak and attracts native birds, particularly parrots who use the seeds as a food source. The rhizobium nodules in the roots also assist in [[nitrogen fixing|fixing nitrogen]] into the soil. The blue-grey foliage and weeping habit make it popular both domestically and in overseas cultivation, including in Iran and Kuwait.<ref name=anbg/>
==See also== * [[List of Acacia species|List of ''Acacia'' species]]
==References== {{Reflist}}
==External links== {{Wikispecies}} {{Commonscat}} * [http://www.anbg.gov.au/acacia/species/A-pendula.html Australian National Botanic Gardens: ''Acacia pendula''] * [https://web.archive.org/web/20060210000737/http://www.threatenedspecies.environment.nsw.gov.au/tsprofile/profile.aspx?id=10967 ''Department of Environment and Climate Change'' Threatened Species - Weeping Myall population in the Hunter catchment - profile] * {{APNI | name = ''Acacia pendula''|id = 13826}}
{{Taxonbar|from=Q2709050}} {{Authority control}}
[[Category:Acacia|pendula]] [[Category:Flora of New South Wales]] [[Category:Flora of Queensland]] [[Category:Flora of Victoria (state)]] [[Category:Trees of Australia]] [[Category:Fabales of Australia]] [[Category:Garden plants of Australia]] [[Category:Drought-tolerant trees]] [[Category:Ornamental trees]] [[Category:Plants described in 1832]]