Acacia retinodes Schlecht., Fabaceae

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Present on Pacific Islands?  yes

Primarily a threat at high elevations?  no

Risk assessment results:  High risk, score: 8 (Go to the risk assessment).

Common name(s): [more details]

English: everblooming acacia, silver wattle, swamp wattle, water wattle

Habit:  shrub/tree

Description:  "Shrub or tree 5-10 m high. Branchlets sometimes pendulous, often angled or flattened, glabrous. Phyllodes normally oblanceolate to narrowly oblanceolate, 3-22 cm long, 3-15 mm wide, sometimes uncinate, thin, green to glaucous, glabrous, 1-nerved per face, obscurely penninerved; gland not prominent, 1-10 mm above pulvinus; pulvinus 2-4 mm long. Inflorescences racemose; raceme axes normally 0.7-4 cm long, glabrous; peduncles 2-7 mm long, rather slender, glabrous; heads globular, 18-50-flowered, pale yellow, occasionally cream; bracteole laminae 0.3-0.5 mm in diameter, not prominent in buds. Flowers 5-merous; sepals united to near apex. Pods linear, to 16 cm long, 5-7 mm wide, firmly chartaceous to thinly crustaceous, glabrous. Seeds longitudinal, oblong to oblong-elliptic, 4-6 mm long, dull to slightly shiny, dark brown to black; funicle 3/4 or more encircling seed, red-brown to blackish; aril clavate"  (Flora of Australia online).

Habitat/ecology:  In Hawai‘i, "several plants were found spreading from cultivated plants located nearby in a cool, moist woodland setting"  (Starr & Starr, 2011).

Propagation:  Seed

Native range:  "Discontinuous in south-eastern Australia from the Eyre Peninsula, S.A. to Wilsons Promontory, Vic., also King and Flinders Islands, Tas. Seemingly absent between the Murray and Glenelg Rivers"  (Flora of Australia online).

Presence:

Pacific
Country/Terr./St. & Island group	Location	Cited status & Cited as invasive & Cited as cultivated & Cited as aboriginal introduction?	Reference & Comments
State of Hawaii Hawaiian Islands	Maui Island	introduced invasive	Starr, Forest/Starr, Kim (2011) (p. 25) East Maui. Voucher cited: Starr & Starr 090513-01 (BISH). Original investation eradicated but as of 2009 persisting from seed bank.
State of Hawaii Hawaiian Islands	Maui Island		Bishop Museum (U.S.A. Hawaii. Honolulu.) (1999) (voucher ID: BISH 661865) Taxon name on voucher: Acacia retinodes Schlecht.
State of Hawaii Hawaiian Islands	O‘ahu Island		Bishop Museum (U.S.A. Hawaii. Honolulu.) (1917) (voucher ID: BISH 54417) Taxon name on voucher: Acacia retinodes Schlecht.
New Caledonia New Caledonia Archipelago	Île Grande Terre	introduced cultivated	MacKee, H. S. (1994) (p. 77) Vouchers cited: MacKee 15894, MacKee 26336

Pacific Rim
Country/Terr./St. & Island group	Location	Cited status & Cited as invasive & Cited as cultivated & Cited as aboriginal introduction?	Reference & Comments
Australia Australia (continental)	Australia (continental)	native	U.S. Dept. Agr., Agr. Res. Serv. (2011)
Indonesia Indonesia	Indonesia (Republic of)	introduced	ILDIS Co-ordinating Centre (2011)
New Zealand New Zealand	New Zealand (country)	introduced	ILDIS Co-ordinating Centre (2011)
United States (west coast) United States (west coast states)	USA (California)	introduced invasive	U.S. Dept. Agr., Agr. Res. Serv. (2011) Naturalized

Indian Ocean
Country/Terr./St. & Island group	Location	Cited status & Cited as invasive & Cited as cultivated & Cited as aboriginal introduction?	Reference & Comments
Mauritius Mautitius Islands (Mauritius and Rodrigues)	Mauritius Island	introduced	ILDIS Co-ordinating Centre (2011)

Also reported from
Country/Terr./St. & Island group	Location	Cited status & Cited as invasive & Cited as cultivated & Cited as aboriginal introduction?	Reference & Comments
United States (continental except west coast) United States (other states)	USA (Florida)	introduced	U.S. Dept. Agr., Nat. Res. Cons. Serv. (2011)

Additional information:
Report from Plants of Hawaii, U.S. Geological Survey (PDF format).

Additional online information about Acacia retinodes is available from the Hawaiian Ecosystems at Risk project (HEAR).

Information about Acacia retinodes as a weed (worldwide references) may be available from the Global Compendium of Weeds (GCW).

Taxonomic information about Acacia retinodes may be available from the Germplasm Resources Information Network (GRIN).

References:

Australian Biological Resources Study. 2011. Flora of Australia Online. Australian Biological Resources Study, Canberra.

Bishop Museum (U.S.A. Hawaii. Honolulu.). 1917. Voucher specimen #BISH54417(Rock, J.F.C 12821).

Bishop Museum (U.S.A. Hawaii. Honolulu.). 1999. Voucher specimen #BISH661865(Starr, F. 990218-2).

ILDIS Co-ordinating Centre. 2011. International Legume Database & Information Service. Online searchable database.

MacKee, H. S. 1994. Catalogue des plantes introduites et cultivées en Nouvelle-Calédonie. Muséum National d'Histoire Naturelle, Paris, 164 p.

Starr, Forest/Starr, Kim. 2011. New plant records from midway Atoll, Maui and Kaho‘olawe. In: Evenhuis, Neal L. and Eldredge, Lucius G., eds. Records of the Hawaii Biological Survey for 2009-2010. Part II: Plants. Bishop Museum Occasional Papers. 110:23-35.

U. S. Government. 2011. Integrated Taxonomic Information System (ITIS) (on-line resource).

U.S. Dept. Agr., Agr. Res. Serv. 2011. National Genetic Resources Program. Germplasm Resources Information Network (GRIN). Online searchable database.

U.S. Dept. Agr., Nat. Res. Cons. Serv. 2011. The PLANTS Database. National Plant Data Center, Baton Rouge, LA 70874-4490 USA.