Plants in my Garden -
Ovens Wattle

By Mike Beamish

Species: Acacia pravissima.

Family: Fabaceae (previously Mimosaceae).

Derivation:

Acacia: This is a Greek word used by Dioscorides to name some prickly species in Egypt and is derived from acis, meaning ‘a pointed instrument’.

pravissima: From Latin, pravus, meaning crooked or misshapen, with the superlative suffix, thus ‘very crooked’, referring to the growth habit of the species.

Common Name: Ovens Wattle.

Distribution: Naturally confined to the banks of rivers and hillsides in north-eastern Victoria, south-eastern NSW and the ACT, inland of the Great Dividing Range, but now widespread in other areas due to gardening and naturalisation.

Description: Large dense shrub or small tree to 8m tall and broad, with numerous crowded, thick, dull-green, roughly triangular phyllodes (not true leaves, but swollen leaf stems) about 2cm long and 1.5cm wide along the branches. Racemes of bright yellow, scented, globular flowers appear in late winter or spring. The flower balls are about 6mm diameter and the racemes are up to 10cm long. Flat, smooth, slightly curved, dark brown pods then form, containing a number of black seeds to 5mm long and 2mm wide.

Opinion: My first Ovens Wattle was planted on the fence between my front and back yards, underneath my phone cable and caused nothing but trouble. It was a classic case of wrong plant for the position, it grew way too big, didn’t like being pruned away from the phone cable, looked very ugly and unhappy, and eventually senesced and fell over in a storm. I didn’t think there would be a place for a future Ovens Wattle in the garden. However, the current specimen appeared on my plant table as a gift for speaking to a sister APS Group in March 2018, so I had to re-assess.

This time around I chose a spot on my western nature-strip where there was a gap that needed filling, though it was probably not big enough for this species. I promised myself that this time I would regularly prune to keep the beast in check. Famous last words, of course! Yes, it once again wanted to take over the world and commenced swamping all its neighbours. I was just about to get out the chainsaw when the council loppers appeared on the scene. Here we go I thought, utter devastation about to occur. However this time I was wrong! The lads did an excellent job of pruning the shrubbery back to their required clearance from the road, pretty much what I was going to do anyway, but they had better tools and I reckon they did a neater job than I would have been able to. Makes up a little bit for past indiscretions!

The Australian Plants Society Latrobe Valley Group hosts monthly activities, excursions and /or meetings. Interested persons are welcome to join in, please contact Mike for more information, email mcandcjb@gmail.com or phone 0447 452 755.

Sources: Elliot & Jones – Encyclopaedia of Australian Plants, Volume 2.

Simmons – Acacias of Australia, Volume 1.

Costermans – Native Trees and Shrubs of SE Australia.