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Fabaceae FAMILY

Acacia julifera

Acacia julifera

Edibility
0/5
Medicinal
2/5

Safety & Hazards

Especially in times of drought, many Acacia species can concentrate high levels of the toxin Hydrogen cyanide in their foliage, making them dangerous for herbivores to eat.

Cultivation Details

HabitShrub
GrowthFast

Acacia julifera is a plant of the moist tropical to subtropical zone of eastern Australia, where it is found at elevations up to 250 metres. It grows best in areas where annual daytime temperatures are within the range 20 - 32°c, but can tolerate 10 - 38°c[1]. When dormant, the plant can survive temperatures down to about -5°c, but young growth is more tender and can be severely damaged at -1°c[1]. It prefers a mean annual rainfall in the range 800 - 1,100mm, but tolerates 500 - 1,200mm[1]. Requires a sunny position in a well-drained soil, although subspecies gilbertense is also found in seasonally water-logged soils[2]. Prefers a light to medium-textured soil, succeeding where the fertility is low[1].Prefers a pH in the range 5 - 6, tolerating 4.5 - 6.5[1]. The plant grows rapidly when young and can start flowering when around 13 months old[3]. On a trial site in Queensland, plants averaged 7.5 metres in height and 12.4cm in basal diameter with 82% survival rate after 4.5 years[[3].. The plant responds well to coppicing and can produce suckers[3]. This species has a symbiotic relationship with certain soil bacteria; these bacteria form nodules on the roots and fix atmospheric nitrogen. Some of this nitrogen is utilized by the growing plant but some can also be used by other plants growing nearby[4].

Propagation

Seed - it has a hard seedcoat and benefits from scarification before sowing in order to speed up and improve germination. This can usually be done by pouring a small amount of nearly boiling water on the seeds (being careful not to cook them!) and then soaking them for 12 - 24 hours in warm water. By this time they should have imbibed moisture and swollen - if they have not, then carefully make a nick in the seedcoat (being careful not to damage the embryo) and soak for a further 12 hours before sowing. Seeds can store for 14 years at room temperature with only 11% loss of viability[5]. Cite as: Tropical Plants Database, Ken Fern. tropical.theferns.info. 2026-02-19. <tropical.theferns.info/viewtropical.php?id=Acacia+julifera>

Pollinators

Insects

References

  1. [1]Ecocrop — http://ecocrop.fao.org/ecocrop/srv/en/home ↩︎Basic information on a wide range of useful plants, plus details of environmental needs where available.
  2. [2]Flora of Australia — http://www.anbg.gov.au/abrs/abif/flora/ ↩︎The full information from the Flora of Australia - on-line. An excellent resource.
  3. [3]Australian Trees and Shrubs: Species for Land Rehabilitation and Farm Planting in the Tropics — Doran J.C.; Turnbull J.W. (Editors) · Australian Centre for International Agricultural Research; Canbe · 1997 · ISBN 1-86320-127-0 ↩︎A very informative book, rich in information about the uses, cultivation needs and very much more for over 160 species of Australian trees and shrubs.
  4. [4]Nodulation Plants in GRIN Taxonomy — United States Department of Agriculture · http://www.ars-grin.gov/~sbmljw/cgi-bin/taxnodul.pl?language=en ↩︎An online database listing plants that have either positive or negative reports on root and stem nodulation with nitrogen-fixing bacteria.
  5. [5]World Agroforesty Centre — http://www.worldagroforestry.org/ ↩︎An excellent online database of a huge range of trees giving very good information on each plant - its uses, ecology, identity, propagation, pests etc.
  6. [6]The Useful Native Plants of Australia. — Maiden J.H. · Turner & Co.; London. · 1889 · http://www.biodiversitylibrary.org ↩︎Terse details of the uses of many Australian plants and other species naturalised, or at least growing, in Australia. It can be downloaded from the Internet.
  7. [PFAF]Plants for a Future — pfaf.org ↩︎