Acacia dilatata

Acacia dilatata is a shrub belonging to the genus Acacia and the subgenus Phyllodineae which is endemic to Western Australia.

Description
The shrub typically grows to a height of 0.3 to 0.7 m. The multistemmed shrub can have a sprawling or compact habit. The usually hairy branchlets have rigid and spinose stipules with a length of 2 to 4 mm. The dark-green to yellow-green phyllodes and have a length of 10 to 20 mm nd 7 to 15 mm. It blooms from November to February and produces yellow flowers. The simple inflorescences occur singly in the axils on 5 to 10 mm long peduncles. The flower-heads have a spherical to obloid shape and contain 15 to 25 sub-densely packed golden flowers. The curved and terete dark red-brown seed pods that form after flowering have a diameter of 4 to 5.5 mm and a length of up to 5.5 cm. The oblong brown seeds within the pods are longitudinal and have a length of up to 5.5 mm.

Distribution
It is native to an area close to the west coast in the Mid West and Wheatbelt regions of Western Australia. The bulk of the population is found from Geraldton in the north to Toodyay in the south. It is found on sandplains, clay flats and rocky lateritic ridges growing in sandy or clay soils. The bulk of the population is scattered from Mingenew south to Mogumber and is often a part of low shrubland or heath communities with scattered Eucalyptus and Banksia species.