Dead finish

Acacia tetragonophylla, known as dead finish or curara, is a straggly shrub or small tree of the Fabaceae family reaching 1.5 to 5 metres in height. Its modified leaf stems, called phyllodes, are needle-like, 1 to 5 cm long and roughly 1 mm wide, and are arranged in groups of two to six on dwarf lateral branchlets. Young phyllodes are soft and pliable, but mature ones become hard, rigid and very sharp, giving the plant its English common name. Spherical clusters of small bright yellow flowers appear on the branches, followed by papery pods up to 8 cm long containing dark seeds. The species is endemic to arid and semi-arid regions of central and western Australia, where it grows on floodplains and along inland watercourses across Western Australia, South Australia, the southern Northern Territory and into adjacent parts of Queensland and New South Wales.