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Acacia shirleyi
Also called Shirley's Lancewood
Lancewood (Acacia shirleyi) is a drought-tolerant Australian tree that grows to about 15 metres with blue-grey phyllodes and yellow flowers from March to July. It needs full sun and well-drained soil, and is best suited to frost-free dry climates.
Acacia shirleyi, known colloquially as lancewood, is a species of Acacia native to Queensland and the Northern Territory in Australia. It grows as a tree to 15 metres (49 ft) high, with dark grey or black stringy bark and blue-grey foliage. The yellow flowers appear from March to July. It grows in dry scrub, open forest or mixed savannah woodland. Indigenous people used the wood as fuel and to make hunting spears. Cattle can eat the foliage as fodder.
The wood is hard and heavy, and is a rich dark brown with pale sapwood. Indigenous people used the wood as fuel and to make hunting spears. The bark contains tannins and can be used as an astringent for treatment of diarrhoea and dysentery when taken internally. It is not suitable for use as fence posts as it tends to rot when in the ground. Lancewood is a hardy tree with potential as a shelter or screening plant. Cattle can eat its leaves for fodder.
The plant grows well in a sunny position in a well-drained soil and is drought tolerant. It grows in mainly frost-free regions but can tolerate a light frost. It is suitable in areas of shallow and nutrient deficient slightly acid soils. Seedlings are initially slow growing but can increase in size by 180 centimetres (71 in) per year once established. They can produce flowers at an age of 14 months. Seeds need to be pretreated by scarification prior to planting. It has a symbiotic relationship with different types of soil bacteria that can form nodules on the roots and fix atmospheric nitrogen into the soil.
The tree is found in temperate and semi-arid parts of north eastern Australia in the state Queensland and the Northern Territory and covers an area of around 1,400,000 square kilometres (540,543 sq mi). In Queensland it is found to the north and east from around Toowoomba and eastwards into the Northern Territory to around the Victoria River. It is often part of monsoon forest or dry scrubland but is not a part of rainforest communities. It is also found in low open forests or mixed savannah woodlands and can form dense stands.
Acacia abbatiana · Acacia abbreviata · Acacia abrupta · Acacia acanthaster · Harrow Wattle · Acacia acellerata · Gold-dust acacia · Acacia aciphylla · Acacia acoma · Acacia acradenia · Strap Leaved Wattle · Acacia acuaria
Text excerpted from the Wikipedia article Acacia shirleyi 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.
