10. Gidgee

Acacia cambagei

NON-INDIGENOUS USE:

Wood turning, stock feed, fence posts, fire wood.

INDIGENOUS USE:

Spears, blended ash with pituri (a shrub) to poison waterholes to catch fish.

DESCRIPTION:

Either a tree to 9m or a shrub to 3m. Commonly grows beneath larger trees such as gidgee, wilga and cypress pine. Sand and clay loamy earth or reddish-brown earths are preferable growing conditions.

BARK:

Dark grey and deeply furrowed.

LEAVES:

3-14cm long, 4-10mm broad with small bend on tip and silvery grey in colour with a white flaky covering.

FLOWERS:

Clusters of golden balls. Dense stands on cracking clay soils and more sparsely on lighter soils. Also known as Stinking Wattle due to the smell emitted during humid or wet weather or when tree is flowering.