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Acacia peuce
Also called Birdsville Wattle, Waddi, Waddytree
Waddy is a slow-growing, drought-hardy tree native to arid central Australia, with needle-like phyllodes and extremely hard, dense wood. It is a wild species rather than a common garden plant, and it grows very slowly, so it suits only large, dry, sandy-soil landscapes.
Acacia peuce, commonly known as Birdsville wattle, waddy, waddi, or waddy-wood, is a tree species that is endemic to central Australia.
The Arrernte peoples know the tree as Aratara, the Pitta Pitta know it as Kurriyapiri and "Red Ochre Father", while the lower Arrernte know it as Arripar.
Although speculated to have been widespread across central Australia during wetter climates 400,000 years ago, the population is now mostly restricted to three sites, separated by the encroaching Simpson Desert. In the Northern Territory, the species is restricted to the Mac Clark (Acacia peuce) Conservation Reserve which is surrounded by a pastoral lease, Andado Station. The other two sites are near Boulia and Birdsville in Queensland. The tree is found in open arid plains that usually receive less than 150 millimetres (5.9 in) of rain per annum. They grow on shallow sand aprons overlaying gibber or clay slopes and plains and between longitudinal dunes or on alluvial flats between ephemeral watercourses. The soils can be saline or contain high levels of gypsum. The total population is approximately 76,000 individuals spread over a total area of 74,000 square kilometres (28,572 sq mi) but with a total area of occupancy of only 400 km2 (154 sq mi).
Indigenous Australians used the hard and heavy wood of the tree to produce clubs or waddy.
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 peuce 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.
