From the Latin fimbriatus (fringed), referring mainly to the phyllode margins usually being fringed with minute hairs.

Fringed Wattle, Brisbane Golden Wattle, Brisbane Wattle.

Shrub or tree to 6 m high. Branchlets slender, with indumentum of short, spreading to appressed hairs often confined to the fine ribs, sometimes glabrous. Phyllodes linear to narrowly oblong-elliptic or narrowly lanceolate, usually 2–5 cm long and 2–5 mm wide with l: w ratio = 5–25, acute to obtuse-mucronulate, thin, sparsely to densely fimbriolate with appressed hairs, sometimes glabrous; midrib fine; lateral veins few and obscure; glands 1, rarely 2, ± prominent but not or only slightly exserted, with the lowermost 1–6 mm above pulvinus. Inflorescences racemose; raceme axes 1.5–7.5 cm long, slender, glabrous or hairy; peduncles 1.5–5 mm long, slender, glabrous or hairy; heads showy, globular, 8–20-flowered, usually bright golden. Flowers 5-merous; sepals c. ¾-united, often partially separating with age. Pods to 8 cm long, 5–9 mm wide, firmly chartaceous, commonly pruinose, glabrous. Seeds longitudinal, oblong-elliptic, 4–5 mm long, black, subshiny; aril clavate.

Native and naturalised.

Occurs in eastern Australia mainly in coastal and adjacent tableland areas from near Nerriga, New South Wales, N to near Yeppoon, Carnarvon National Park and Ravenshoe, Queensland. A similar disjunction pattern occurs also in Acacia falcata and A. falciformis.

Naturalised in South Australia and Victoria, and very sparingly in the Australian Capital Territory.

Favours moist sites near streams and on margins of light rainforest, and occurs on hillsides as an understorey in eucalypt woodland or open forest.

Qld: Blackdown Tableland, B. Golding 9 (BRI); 8–10 km NE of Byfield State Forest area, G.N. Batianoff 509 & T.J. McDonald (BRI).

N.S.W.: 6.4 km by road E of Deepwater, E.F. Constable 7082 (NSW, PERTH); Bolivia Hill, 37 km S of Tenterfield on New England Hwy, 4 Jan. 1969, M.D. Tindale s.n. (NSW, PERTH).

Cultivated as an ornamental in gardens and landscaping.

Acacia fimbriata A.Cunn. ex G.Don, A General History of Dichlamydeous Plants 2: 406 (1832); Acacia prominens var. fimbriata (A.Cunn. ex G.Don) Domin, Bibliotheca Botanica 22(89): 810 (1926); Acacia fimbriata A.Cunn. ex G.Don var. fimbriata (autonym),  C.T. White, Proceedings of the Royal Society of Queensland 50: 72 (1939); Racosperma fimbriatum (G.Don) Pedley, Austrobaileya 2(4): 348 (1987). Type: "Native of New South Wales"; lecto (as holo):  Brisbane River, Qld, Sept. 1828, A. Cunningham 158, BM n.v., designated by L. Pedley, Austrobaileya 1: 283 (1980); iso: K n.v.

Taxonomic Synonyms

Acacia prominens var. whiteana Domin, Bibliotheca Botanica 22(89): 810 (1926). Type: "Queensland: Upper Brisbane River, C.T. WHITE VIII. 1908, in herb. meo"; upper Brisbane River, Qld, Aug. 1908, C.T. White s.n.; holo: PR.

Acacia fimbriata var. perangusta C.T.White, Proceedings of the Royal Society of Queensland 50: 72 (1939); Acacia perangusta (C.T.White) Pedley, Austrobaileya 1(3): 287 (1979); Racosperma perangustum (C.T.White) Pedley, Austrobaileya 2(4): 353 (1987). Type: "Castra, near Brisbane, very common along creek banks, C.T. White, No. 3554, 7th August, 1927 (type of the variety; flowers in late bud stage)"; holo: BRI; iso: BRI, K, NY.

Acacia fimbriata var. glabra C.T.White, Proceedings of the Royal Society of Queensland 50: 72 (1939). Type: "Queensland: near Biggenden, Burnett district, W.R. Petrie, No. 18A (type of the variety)"; holo: BRI.

Misapplied Names

Acacia prominens auct. non A.Cunn. ex G.Don: G. Bentham, London Journal of Botany 1: 358 (1842), p.p.; G. Bentham, Flora Australiensis 2: 371 (1864), p.p.

Acacia linifolia auct. non (Vent.) Willd.: G. Bentham, (1864), Flora Australiensis 2: 371 (1864), p.p.

Notes from the Flora of Australia 11A: 310–311 (2001): A variable species, especially in phyllode dimensions and indumentum density, according to L. Pedley, Austrobaileya 1: 284 (1980). Glabrous individuals are uncommon and not considered worthy of formal rank. A few specimens from Queensland (e.g. Yeppoon, E.J. Richter 13, BRI) have linear phyllodes to 7 cm long, 1.5 mm wide with l: w ratio = 35 and as such resemble A. perangusta. One Queensland specimen (from between Yarraman & Nanango, W.J.F. McDonald 1585, BRI) has atypically short phyllodes, c. 1 cm long. The flower-heads are normally light golden to mid-golden, but a variant with cream flower-heads is known from a population of otherwise normal coloured individuals in the Blue Mountains, New South Wales (e.g. B.R. Maslin 5888A, PERTH). Plants from Darling Downs, Queensland, have much brighter coloured flower-heads than coastal plants within that State, according to B.A. Lebler, Wildflowers of SE Queensland 2: 63 (1981). G. Bentham, Flora Australiensis 2: 371 (1864), treated A. fimbriata as conspecific with A. prominens and also included elements of it under A. linifolia. J.H. Maiden, Forest Flora of New South Wales 5: 29, 34, 61–65, pl. 157 (1911) and V.S. Summerhayes, Botanical Magazine 155: t. 9256 (1931) discussed the confusion surrounding these three names. Acacia prominens is commonly a taller plant than A. fimbriata and has phyllodes which are 5–12 mm wide, grey-green to glaucous (green to greyish green in A. fimbriata ), never fimbriolate and possessing more prominent glands which are generally further removed from the pulvinus. Acacia linifolia is distinguished by its glabrous phyllodes 0.8–2.5 mm wide, gland 5–15 mm above the pulvinus and 6–12-flowered, creamy yellow heads.

Common in cultivation where it sometimes hybridises with A. macradenia (sect. Acacia) and possibly A. chrysotricha (sect. Botrycephalae).

J.H. Maiden, Forest Flora of New South Wales 5: pl. 157 (1911); V.S. Summerhayes, Botanical Magazine 155: t. 9256 (1931); E.R. Rotherham et al., Flowers and Plants of New South Wales & Southern Queensland 65 (1975); I. Armitage, Acacias of New South Wales 105 (1978); B. Lebler, Wildflowers of SE Queensland 2: 62 (1981); E.R. Rotherham et al., Flowers and Plants of New South Wales and Southern Queensland 65, pl. 175 (1982); M. Simmons, Acacias of Australia 2: 159 (1988); A. Fairley & P. Moore, Native Plants of the Sydney District 126, pl. 378 (1989); S. & A. Pearson, Rainforest Plants of Eastern Australia 13 (1992); T. Tame, Acacias of Southeast Australia 158, fig. 175; pl. 175 (1992); D. Greig, A Photographic Guide to Trees of Australia 114 (1998); K.A.W. Williams, Native Plants of Queensland 4: 30–31 (1999), as A. perangusta; A.E. Orchard & A.J.G. Wilson (eds), Flora of Australia 11A: 312, fig. 25 I–N (2001), also 308, fig. 24K–L as A. perangusta; B. Kemp, Wildflowers of the North Coast of New South Wales 105 (2004); G. Leiper et al., Mangroves to Mountains rev. edn: 213 (2008); F.J. Richardson et al., Weeds of the South-east 3rd edn, 321 (2016); A. Benwell, Plants of Subtropical Eastern Australia 140 (2020); Condamine Country Plant Group, Wattles of Toowoomba and the Condamine Catchment: 53 (2024); Acacia fimbriata in World Wide Wattle (accessed 1 May 2024).

Armitage, I. (1978). Acacias of New South Wales. (New South Wales Region of the Society for Growing Australian Plants: Sydney).

Benwell, A. (2020). Plants of Subtropical Eastern Australia. (CSIRO Publishing: Melbourne).

Churchward, L., Gardner, P., Plant, S. & Spearitt, G. (2024). Wattles of Toowoomba and the Condamine Catchment. (Condamine Country Plant Group: Toowoomba).

Fairley, A. & Moore, P. (1989). Native Plants of the Sydney District. (Kangaroo Press: Kenthurst).

Greig, D. (1998). A Photographic Guide to Trees of Australia. (New Holland: Sydney).

Leiper, G., Glazebrook, J., Cox, D. & Rathie, K. (2008). Mangroves to Mountains. A Field Guide to the Native Plants of South-east Queensland Revised Edn. (Society of Growing Australian Plants (Queensland Region) Inc. Logan River Branch: Browns Plains, Qld).

Maslin, B.R. (2001). Acacia fimbriata, pp. 310–311, in A.E. Orchard & A.J.G. Wilson (eds), Flora of Australia Volume 11A, Mimosaceae, Acacia part 1. (ABRS: Canberra / CSIRO Publishing: Melbourne).

Pedley, L. (1983). Mimosaceae, pp. 332–386, in T.D. Stanley & E.M. Ross, Flora of South-eastern Queensland Volume 1. (Queensland Department of Primary Industries: Brisbane).

Pedley, L. (2004). Reduction of Acacia perangusta to the synonymy of A. fimbriata. Austrobaileya 6: 983.

Richardson, F.J., Richardson, R.G. & Shepherd, R.C.H. (2016). Weeds of the South-east. An Identification Guide for Australia 3rd edn. (R.G. & F.J. Richardson: Meredith, Victoria).

Ross, J.H. (1975). The naturalized and cultivated exotic Acacia species in South Africa. Bothalia 11(4): 463–470.

Rotherham, E.R., Briggs, B.G., Blaxell, D.F. & Carolin, R.C. (1975, reprinted 1982). Flowers and Plants of New South Wales and Southern Queensland. (A.H. Reed & A.W. Reed Pty Ltd: Frenchs Forest).

Tame, T. (1992). Acacias of Southeast Australia. (Kangaroo Press: Kenthurst).

Adapted from B.R. Maslin, Acacia fimbriata, Flora of Australia 11A: 310–311 (2001).