Acacia mearnsii

Black wattle

Family: Fabaceae · Type: tree · Not Native

Black wattle is a naturalized tree found in southern California coastal areas in disturbed habitats at elevations below 500 meters. Flowering from February to March, this tree produces pale yellow to cream flowers in racemes occasionally forming panicles of 20 to 35 heads. Growing to less than 10 meters tall with an unarmed habit, it has twigs that are angled and short-hairy with bark that often exudes gum. Its two-pinnate leaves are olive-green, featuring 7 to 31 pairs of primary leaflets with raised glands between leaf pairs and 20 to 70 pairs of tiny linear secondary leaflets. The fruit is a dark brown, slightly leathery pod 3 to 14 centimeters long with a light yellow, club-shaped seed aril forming a cap.

Habitat: Uncommon. Disturbed areas

Bloom period: Feb-Mar

Elevation: < 500 m

Bioregions: SCo

Data from The California Species Project — 14,000+ California species with verified data from CNPS, CDFW, USFWS, Jepson eFlora, Cal-IPC, and more.