Acacia alpina, commonly known as alpine wattle is a species of flowering plant in the family Fabaceae and is endemic to alpine and subalpine regions of south-eastern continental Australia. It is an erect or spreading shrub or tree with egg-shaped or broadly egg-shaped phyllodes with the narrower end towards the base, flowers arranged in 1 or 2 racemes in the axils of phyllodes, each with cylindrical to oblong, usually pale yellow flowers, and thin-walled, gently curved or coiled pods 30–80 mm long.

Description

Acacia alpina is an erect or spreading, tangled shrub that typically grows to 1–2 m high and up to 10 m wide. The phyllodes are egg-shaped, broadly egg-shaped or more or less round and asymmetrical, 15–35 mm long and 8–25 mm wide. There is a D-shaped stipule at the base of the phyllode, but that falls off as the phyllode develops. The flowers are usually pale yellow, borne in 1 or 2 cylindrical to oblong spikes 5–15 mm long in the axils of phyllodes, each spike with few flowers on a peduncle 1–3 mm long. Flowering mainly occurs from October to November, and the fruit is a thin-walled, gently curved or coiled pod, 30–80 mm long and 3–6 mm wide, containing narrowly elliptic seeds 3.5–5 mm long.

Taxonomy

Acacia alpina was first formally described in 1863 by Ferdinand von Mueller in his Fragmenta Phytographiae Australiae from specimens collected at an altitude of 4500–500 ft. The specific epithet (alpina) means "of the alps", referring to the species' usual habitat.

Distribution

Alpine acacia grows in woodlands and heathlands and on open plains in the Snowy Mountains of New South Wales and southern parts of the Australian Capital Territory and further south to around Mount Baw Baw in the eastern Victorian highlands at an altitude of 1300–1800 m. It is often situated in granitic and windswept areas and sometimes forms dense thickets. This species is a close relative of Acacia phlebophylla and the two species tend to hybridize. It often can be found in alpine and subalpine areas of Australia.