Acacia binervia, commonly known as the coast myall, is a wattle native to New South Wales and Victoria. It can grow as a shrub or as a tree reaching 16 m in height.[1] This plant is reportedly toxic to livestock as the foliage (phyllodes) contain a glucoside which can produce hydrogen cyanide if cut.[1]
German botanist Johann Christoph Wendland first described this species as Mimosa binervia in 1798,[2] before American botanist James Francis Macbride reclassified it in the genus Acacia in 1919.[3] Common names include coast myall and rosewood.[3] Acacia glaucescens is an illegitimate name.[4]
Acacia binervia grows as a shrub to small tree anywhere from 2 to 16 m (6.6 to 52.5 ft) high. The bark is dark brown to grey in colour, and the elliptic to sickle-shaped (falcate) phyllodes are 6–15 cm (2.4–5.9 in) in length and 0.5–2.3 cm (0.20–0.91 in) wide. The cylindrical yellow flowers appear in spring (August to October).[1] Flowering is followed by the development of 6–8 cm long seed pods, which are ripe by December.[5]
Acacia binervia is found in central New South Wales from the Hunter Region south, and to Bungonia in the southwest, and continuing south into Victoria.[1] In the Sydney basin, it grows on a variety of soils and associated plant communities—alluvial soils, sandstone-, shale- or trachyte-based soils, generally with good drainage. It grows in dry sclerophyll forest, associated with such species as yellow bloodwood (Corymbia eximia), grey gum (Eucalyptus punctata), narrow-leaved ironbark (E. crebra), mugga ironbark (E. sideroxylon), or more open woodland with narrow-leaved ironbark and black cypress pine (Callitris endlicheri), and riparian (riverbank) forest with river peppermint (E. elata) and gossamer wattle (Acacia floribunda).[5]
Acacia binervia regenerates from bushfire by a soil-borne seedbank, the seeds germinate and grow after fire while adult plants are killed. The frequency of fire for the cycle to persist is anywhere from 10 to 50 years.[5] It is useful to bees in the honey industry.[5]
For the Dharawal people, the flowering of Acacia binervia was used as a seasonal indicator of the presence of fish in bays and estuaries.[6]
Acacia binervia, commonly known as the coast myall, is a wattle native to New South Wales and Victoria. It can grow as a shrub or as a tree reaching 16 m in height. This plant is reportedly toxic to livestock as the foliage (phyllodes) contain a glucoside which can produce hydrogen cyanide if cut.
