Acacia floribunda

Acacia floribunda, commonly called the white sallow wattle or gossamer wattle, is a spreading shrub or small tree of the family Fabaceae, typically reaching two to eight metres tall, with smooth grey bark and gracefully pendulous branchlets. The mature foliage is composed of phyllodes rather than true leaves: these are linear to narrowly lance-shaped, 50 to 190 mm long, somewhat curved, with a fine central vein and one or two longitudinal nerves. From late winter into spring, between June and September, the plant produces abundant pale yellow to creamy-white cylindrical flower spikes 2 to 6 cm long, arranged in short axillary racemes that give the species its common name. The fruits are slender, cylindrical, straight to slightly curved legume pods opening to release glossy brown seeds with small apical arils. Endemic to eastern Australia, it occurs naturally from south-eastern Queensland through New South Wales to eastern Victoria, especially in coastal sclerophyll communities on sandy soils along stream banks, and is naturalised more widely.