Acacia betchei

Acacia betchei, commonly known as red-tip wattle, is a shrub belonging to the genus Acacia and the subgenus Phyllodineae endemic to eastern Australia.

Description
The shrub typically grows to a height of 4 m with glabrous slender branchlets that have a dark red colour. The thin green straight to incurved phyllodes have a narrowly linear shape. The phyllodes have a length of 5 to 14 cm and a width of 2 to 3 mm with an obscure midrib.

Taxonomy
The species was first formally described by the botanists Joseph Maiden and William Blakely in 1927 as published in the Journal and Proceedings of the Royal Society of New South Wales. It was reclassified as Racosperma betchei in 1987 by Leslie Pedley then transferred back to the genus Acacia in 2001. It is often confused with Acacia adunca.

Distribution
It is found along the tablelands of the Great Dividing Range from north-eastern New South Wales from around Torrington in the south extending to south eastern Queensland to around Dalveen in the north. It is found in sandy granite based soils as a part of forest communities.