Australasia - Australia: Australia - Tasmania, - New South Wales, - Queensland, - South Australia, - Victoria, - Austr. Capital Terr.
This tree grows fast and tall, up to 45m height. It has a wide ecological tolerance, occurring over an extensive range of soils and climatic conditions, but develops better in colder climates. Control of its invasion of natural vegetation, commercial timber plantations and farmland incurs considerable costs, but its timber value and nursing of natural forest succession provides a positive contribution. Unarmed, evergreen tree 8-15 (sometimes up to 45) metres high; trunk straight, crown dense and pyramidal to cylindrical, sometimes with heavy spreading branches. Leaves: Bipinnate (feathery) leaves on seedlings and coppice shoots turn into phyllodes. Phyllodes are 7-10cm long, greyish turning dark dull-green, straight to slightly curved, with 3-7 prominent longitudinal veins and fine net-veins between; often bipinnate on young plants and coppice shoots. Flowers: Pale yellow, globular flower heads. Fruits: Reddish-brown pods, narrower than leaves, slightly constricted, twisted; flat roundish shiny black seeds 2-3mm long, seeds almost encircled by pinkish-red seed stalks (aril)" (Henderson, 1995. In PIER, 2002). It has a shallow root system with dense, surface feeder roots.
Acacia melanoxylon (black acacia) is a tree (family Fabaceae) found along the coast of California, in the North and South Coast Ranges, and the San Francisco Bay region. It favors disturbed areas, and is often found near buildings and agricultural sites. Black acacia, which has spherical cream-colored flowers, was introduced as a landscape ornamental and has escaped cultivation in some areas. Acacia melanoxylon is valued for its highly decorative timber which may be used as a cabinet timber, for musical instruments or in boatbuilding.
