Acacia anthochaera
Acacia anthochaera
Safety & Hazards
The seed of many Acacia species, including this one, is edible and highly nutritious, and can be eaten safely as a fairly major part of the diet. Not all species are edible, however, and some can contain moderate levels of toxins[ 1295 Title Acacia in Australia: Ethnobotany and Potential Food Crop Publication Janick (ed.), Progress in new crops pp 228-236, (1996) ASHS Press, Alexandria, VA. Author Lister P.R.; Holford P.; Haigh T.; Morrison D.A. Website https://hort.purdue.edu/newcrop/proceedings1996/v3-toc.html Publisher ASHS Press, Alexandria, VA. Year 1996 ISBN 0-9615027-3-8 Description ]. Especially when harvesting from the wild, especial care should be taken to ensure correct identification of any plants harvested for food[ K Title Plants for a Future Author Ken Fern Description Notes from observations, tasting etc at Plants For A Future and on field trips. ]. 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.
Botanical Description
Acacia anthochaera is a dense, commonly rounded, multi-stemmed, glabrous shrub or tree usually growing 2 - 5 metres tall, sometimes reaching 8 metres. The stems can be 6 - 10cm in diameter near the base, 4 - 8cm at breast height, though some plants produce a single stem up to 30cm in diameter and 100cm long before branching[ 286 Title Flora of Australia Publication Author Website http://www.anbg.gov.au/abrs/abif/flora/ Publisher Year 0 ISBN Description The full information from the Flora of Australia - on-line. An excellent resource. , 1292 Title Acacia species as large-scale crop plants in theWestern Australian wheatbelt Publication Conservation Science W. Aust. 4 (3) : 96-108 (2002) Author Bartle J.; Cooper D.; Olsen G.; Carslake J. Website https://www.researchgate.net/publication/283798072 Publisher Year 2002 ISBN Description ]. Although it produces true leaves as a seedling, llike most members of this section of the genus, the mature plant does not have true leaves but has leaf-like flattened stems called phyllodes[ 286 Title Flora of Australia Publication Author Website http://www.anbg.gov.au/abrs/abif/flora/ Publisher Year 0 ISBN Description The full information from the Flora of Australia - on-line. An excellent resource. ]. The plant produces an edible seed and has been suggested as a potential commercial food crop for drier areas such as Western Australia[ 1293 Title Domestication of wattles with edible seeds for the wheatbelt of Western Australia Publication Conservation Science W. Aust. 4 (3) : 170-180 (2002) Author McDonald M.W.; Maslin B.R.; Thomson L.A.J. Publisher Year 2002 ISBN Description , 1297 Title Wattles of the Kalannie region: their identification, characteristics and utilisation Publication Author Maslin B.R. Website http://worldwidewattle.com/ Publisher Year 1998 ISBN Description Produced on a CDROM, a database of Acacias growing in a region of Western Australia. Fact sheets for individual species can be downloaded from the Internet. ]. It can also be used in revegetation projects.