Plant of the Week AAccaacciiaa ppooddaallyyrriiiiffoolliiaa QQuueeeennssllaanndd SSiillvveerr WWaattttllee,, MMoouunntt MMoorrggaann WWaattttllee Each year in Sydney the yellow flowers of Acacia podalyriifolia proclaim the end of winter in much the same way that yellow daffodils herald the start of spring in England. Here it is probably possible to find species of wattle in flower at any time of the year, but it is the brilliant yellow flowers set against silver-grey foliage of the Queensland Silver Wattle, Acacia podalyriifolia, that truly signal the end of winter and the arrival of spring. The transformation of the Australian bush was Queensland Wattle, Acacia described long ago in a poem (later set to music) by a podalyriifolia Miss Veronica Mason. The poem, which must by now have been recited and sung by many generations of Australians, appeared in The Hobart Mercury on 11th September 1912 and begins: “The bush was grey A week today (Olive-green, and brown, and grey); But now the Spring has come this way With blossoms for the wattle.” However, Queensland Silver Wattle has a dark secret! It may give us much joy on dismal winter days but it is in fact an imposter, a blow-in from open forests and woodland of south-eastern Queensland; a native Australian but not a native of the Sydney region and often an invader of local bushland. Queensland Wattle doesn’t just have its sights set on NSW, it is also a problem in Victoria, South Australia and Western Australia, and this extends to India, Africa, south-east Asia, New Zealand, South America and south-western North America (California)1. The take home message is that if you live near bushland, try and avoid planting this species in your garden. 1 Bionet-EAFRINET: http://keys.lucidcentral.org/keys/v3/eafrinet/index.htm Map: Modified from Australian Native Plant Society (Australia) Web Page, http://anpsa.org.au/a-pod.html Text and photographs: Alison Downing & Kevin Downing Downing Herbarium, Department of Biological Sciences, 1.07.2012 .