The name refers to the obtuse apex of the phyllodes.

Blunt Leaf Wattle, Blunt-leaved Wattle, Stiff-leaf Wattle.

Shrub or tree 0.5–15 m high, erect or spreading. Stipules triangular, less than 0.5 mm long or obscure. Phyllodes linear to narrowly elliptic, 12–25 cm long, 7–23 mm wide, coriaceous, dark green; margins uneven and edged with microscopic granular resin globules; apex obtuse; primary veins prominent, commonly 2–5; secondary veins parallel, sparingly anastomosing; gland c. 8 mm above base; pulvinus present. Inflorescences with peduncles 5–10 mm long; spikes 3–7 cm long; bracteoles ovate-navicular, c. 0.5 mm long, minutely fringed. Flowers 4-merous, loosely packed, creamy white to pale yellow; sepals united. Pods subcylindrical, linear, mostly straight, 5–15 cm long, 3.5–7 mm wide, crustaceous. Seeds narrowly elliptic, 4.5–6 mm long, shiny; funicle thin, folded c. 4–5 times; aril turbinate.

Distinguished from Acacia longifolia by the resinous margins of its thicker, less pliable phyllodes, and its paler flower heads. Also generally flowers November–February while A. longifolia flowers June–November.

Flowers chiefly November–February; fruits irregularly.

Native.

Widespread along the coastal and near-coastal ranges of far southeastern Queensland and northeastern New South Wales, the central tablelands E of the Great Dividing Range, central and southern coasts of New South Wales and far eastern Victoria.

Grows in forests and woodlands; often occurs near the margins of rainforests.

 Acacia obtusifolia fruits very rarely and appears to propagate principally by suckering.

Qld: Mount Greville, S.L. Everist 7249 (BRI).

N.S.W.: Cooyal, 25 km NE of Mudgee, L. Pedley 1625 (BRI, MEL); Comboyne Plateau, I.R. Telford 2313 (CANB); Mount Dromedary, L.G. Adams 506 (BRI, CANB, MEL).

Vic.: 20 km N of Murrungowar, NE of Orbost, 29 Dec. 1951, J.H. Willis & N.A. Wakefield s.n. (MEL, NSW).

I. Armitage, Acacias of New South Wales 153 and pls 38 & 39 (1978); L.F. Costermans, Native Trees and Shrubs of South-eastern Australia 304 (1981); B.A. Lebler, Wildflowers of South-eastern Queensland  2: 15 (1981); A. Fairley & P. Moore, Native Plants of the Sydney District 120, pl. 349 (1989); T. Tame, Acacias of Southeast Australia 35, fig. 8; pl. 8 (1992); P.G. Kodela & G.J. Harden, in G.J. Harden (ed.), Flora of New South Wales 2nd edn, 2: 418 (2002); G. Leiper et al., Mangroves to Mountains rev. edn: 446 (2008); S. Lollback et al., Native Plants - Hassans Walls Reserve Lithgow 47 (2014); P.G. Kodela, Acacia obtusifolia, in New South Wales Flora Online (accessed 2020).

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

Brown, G.K., Clowes, C., Murphy D.J. & Ladiges, P.Y. (2010). Phylogenetic analysis based on nuclear DNA and morphology defines a clade of eastern Australian species of Acacia s.s. (section Juliflorae): the ‘Acacia longifolia group’. Australian Systematic Botany 23(3): 162–172.

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

Kodela, P.G. (2020). Acacia obtusifolia, in New South Wales Flora Online: http://plantnet.rbgsyd.nsw.gov.au/cgi-bin/NSWfl.pl?page=nswfl&lvl=sp&name=Acacia~obtusifolia [accessed June 2020]

Kodela, P.G. & Harden, G.J. (2002). Acacia, in G.J. Harden (ed.), Flora of New South Wales 2nd edn, 2: 381–476. (University of New South Wales Press: 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).

Lollback, S., Drewe, H., Coveny, R. & Durie, K. (2014). Native Plants - Hassans Walls Reserve Lithgow. (Published by the authors).

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).

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

Data derived from Flora of Australia Volumes 11A (2001), 11B (2001) and 12 (1998), products of ABRS, ©Commonwealth of Australia