Jump to content
The Corroboree
Happy Cadaver

Acacia phlebophylla hybridsation

Recommended Posts

Found some info on on Acacia phlebophylla today, evidently it hybridises naturally in the wild with Acacia alpinia and Acacia dallachiana. The hybrids however are sterile.

Perhaps this could be an alternative plant for trippers to harvest from and leave the last phlebs alone. Is there someone interested in finding this hybrid or creating it and testing it? All we need is a pollen source for the above mentioned and some one to do the dirty work on the phlebs at flowering time. WOuld it work?

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

Predicting what such a hybrid looks like could be interesting. I looked for the alpina hybrid without success. Given there are only 4 or 5 species of acacia in the region between phlebo and alpina, they would be fairly easy to spot.

As for dallachiana, I wonder how they could hybridise if they are many , many k's apart..... this must be a handpollination experiment, in which case it would be good to talk to the scientist who did it.

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

I've been perplexed by some of the comments I've heard.

To me it sounds like someone needs to:

1) Contact and ask Walsh for more details concerning his collections of said hybrids. He is stil alive and active so surely should be contactable?

2) Examine his herbarium vouchers to see how plausible the hybrid status really is.

3) Do field work based on the herbaria to specifically confirm or cast doubts on the details of Walsh's collection data.

4) If the latter, contact Walsh and politely ask for an explaination. Perhaps even organize a joint visit to the putative hybrid populations.

I have been told in email and now read here that the populations are widely separated. The collection data from Walsh's herbaria apparently says differently.

I do not know who is correct but I have seen thriving populations of a number of plants utterly disappear in less than a ten year period. When the Cactoblastis moth appeared in Central Texas huge populations of Coryphantha sulcata disappeared without a trace in substantially less that that time. Many species of plants have tiny zones of abundance widely separated from far larger populations or exist in small separated pockets that probably reflect a formerly broader range.

Since the phlebophylla was afflicted with a gall forming disease that was threatening to wipe it out prior to those wonderful bushfires that have appeared not only to save it but restore a healthy population (fire is usually one of Acacia's best friend), perhaps that played a role in diminishing or obliterating its occurrences that Walsh visited. Perhaps the populations used to overlap and do not now? Perhaps the galls killed them and fire consumed the remains? Perhaps more looking will find they still overlap in some spots? Perhaps Walsh was completely wrong? I would love to learn more about this.

Just because people can't find a plant does not always mean it is not there. For instance, we were told for years by authoritative sources no peyote existed in West Texas outside of the Shafter area. Two of the foremost experts on the peyote plant Edward Anderson and Omer C. Stewart were utterly convinced of this and the latter touted a survey of area ranchers as some sort of proof. We now know they were wrong as both field collected vouchers and photos now exist to prove their assertion was wrong. Populations are cryptic, always small and quite scattered but they are most certainly there.

No one I talked with while there last time had ever noticed huge golden chanterelles growing in NSW but when I went for a walk with Mulga we encountered them fruiting in abundance on Mt. Nardi.

On the phlebophylla I don't know as I have done no field work on this topic. Again I would love to learn more.

I first encountered the hybrid claim in the wattle identifier CDs some years ago.

Sterile flowers seem to be the main identifier Walsh used but I have not been the the Melbourne herbarium to look deeper into why they were thought to be hybrids.

What is posted online seemingly to the contrary of what I have been told and read here:

http://www.worldwidewattle.com/speciesgall...hlebophylla.php

"Closely related to A. alpina but is much larger in all its parts, the phyllodes have irregularly resinous margins and its pods are woodier.  Acacia phlebophylla hybridizes with both A. alpina and A. dallachiana in the Buffalo NP, Vic."

http://www.worldwidewattle.com/speciesgall...dallachiana.php

"Based on field observations it appears that A. dallachiana hybridizes with A. phlebophylla near Manfield in the Buffalo NP, Vic. (see N.G.Walsh 5162, MEL).  Hybrid plants are rare and sterile, and occur in populations with both putative parents."

http://www.worldwidewattle.com/speciesgallery/alpina.php

"Acacia alpina is closely related to A. phlebophylla and the two species hybridize in the Mt Buffalo NP, Vic. (see N.G.Walsh 5163, MEL).  Hybrid plants are taller than those of A. alpina and are always sterile.  At the head of Crystal Brook the hybrids occur in populations with both parents, but elsewhere only A. alpina is present with the hybrids."

I lack enough data to know who is right or if everyone is right and the larger picture is more complex and incomplete but it seems worth looking into taking the 4 steps I suggest above.

Edited by trucha

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

Pics of alpina/phleb hybrid in "the phleb thread". I also have more recent pics of the plant i can put up later if you wish, am bit busy atm.

The hybrid was found in an area where phleb apparently once thrived but now i can only find alpina in the said area.

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

Create an account or sign in to comment

You need to be a member in order to leave a comment

Create an account

Sign up for a new account in our community. It's easy!

Register a new account

Sign in

Already have an account? Sign in here.

Sign In Now

×