Acacia ashbyae

Acacia ashbyae, commonly known as Ashby's wattle, is a species of wattle that is endemic to Western Australia.

Description
The wattle grows as a rounded, dense and spreading shrub, up to 2 m high and 3 m wide. The narrow, flat, pale green phyllodes are 30 to 90 mm long by 1 to 3 mm wide, with new growth covered in white hairs. It produces bright yellow, cylindrical flowers, about 10 mm long, on short racemes from July to September.

Taxonomy
The species was first formally described by the botanist Bruce Maslin in 1974 as part of the work Studies in the genus Acacia - 2 - Miscellaneous new phyllodinous species published in the journal Nuytsia. It was reclassified in 2003 by Leslie Pedley as Racosperma ashbyae then transferred back to the genus Acacia in 2006.

The specific epithet ashbyae honours botanical illustrator and plant collector Alison Ashby.

Distribution and habitat
It occurs on sandy and loamy soils along roadsides, on rocky rises and sandplains in the Avon Wheatbelt, Geraldton Sandplains and Yalgoo IBRA bioregions.