Acacia-hedge

Acacia paradoxa is a dense, intricately branched evergreen shrub of the Fabaceae family, typically growing 2 to 4 metres tall and wide, with rigid zig-zag stems armed with sharp paired stipular spines 5 to 15 millimetres long at the base of each phyllode. The phyllodes, which function as leaves, are dark green, narrowly oblong to lanceolate, 1 to 3 centimetres long and 3 to 8 millimetres wide, often with a wavy or undulate margin and a single prominent longitudinal nerve. From late winter to spring the plant produces masses of bright golden-yellow globular flower heads about 8 to 12 millimetres in diameter, borne singly or in pairs in the phyllode axils. The fruits are narrow, slightly constricted, brown legume pods 4 to 7 centimetres long containing dark seeds with a small aril. Native to southeastern Australia, including Victoria, New South Wales, Tasmania, South Australia and southern Queensland, it inhabits open forest, woodland and disturbed ground on a range of soils.