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Acacia holosericea
Also called Silky Wattle, Silverleaf Wattle, Soapbush Wattle
Candelabra wattle is a fast-growing Australian shrub or small tree, with silvery silky foliage and golden yellow flower spikes. It is grown mainly as a feature, hedge or screen plant and needs sun and well-drained soil.
Acacia holosericea, commonly known as candelabra wattle, soapbush, silver wattle, silver-leaved wattle and silky wattle is a species of flowering plant in the family Fabaceae and is endemic to tropical northern Australia. It is a shrub or tree with narrowly elliptic phyllodes, spikes of golden yellow flowers and tightly and sometimes irregularly coiled pods that remain as entangled clumps after the seeds have been released.
This species of wattle can be grown by seed, although the seeds must be scarified prior to planting. It grows quickly and well in a sunny, reasonably well drained position in most soil types. It is suitable as a feature plant or as a hedge or screen plant. It has attractive foliage and fruit, and can be grown in tropical areas.
Candelabra wattle is widespread in northern Australia extending from Derby in Western Australia, east across the Northern Territory to near Rockhampton in eastern Queensland. Smaller populations are found in arid regions of the Pilbara in the Hamersley Range, in central parts of the Northern Territory and in south-western Queensland near Blackall. It is found in and around ephemeral watercourses growing in gravelly sand or loamy soils.
Indigenous Australians used the plant as a fish poison. The seeds of the plant are known to be edible.
Jam wattle · Mulga · Acacia aneura var. major · Mulga · Earleaf acacia · Cootamundra wattle · Gidgee · Bower wattle · Cole's Wattle · Small Philippine acacia · Knife acacia · Silver Wattle
Text excerpted from the Wikipedia article Acacia holosericea by its contributors, under CC BY-SA 4.0; the excerpts and the care summary drawn from them are shared under the same licence.
The care summary was written by AI (Claude, Anthropic) from the sources on this page, with general growing knowledge where they are silent. Check before relying on it.
Life form, climate and native range: World Checklist of Vascular Plants, Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew (CC BY 3.0), reformatted; see Plants of the World Online.
