Acacia stenophylla A. Cunn. ex Benth.
Shoe-string acacia, pencil leaf acacia, Dalby myall
Shoestring acacia is an Australian native. They were introduced to the American southwest in the 1900s. They are arid climate trees that are drought tolerant, once established. The timber is used for furniture.
Plants: They may appear as rounded, multistemmed shrubs, or grow to trees 13–66′ (4–20 m) in height. They are evergreens, with grayish-brown to blackish bark.
Leaves: Leaves, or more properly, leaf stems called phyllodes appear as stringy straplike green things resembling stretched out beans, hence the common names “shoestring” and “pencil leaf” acacia. These “leaves” are 6–16″ (15–40 cm) long and 1/16–⅜″ (2–10 mm) wide. They are slightly rough in texture, with multiple parallel veins.
Flowers: Racemes have three to five heads, with creamy-white to pale yellow flowers. Each flower is ball-shaped, ⅛–¼″ (6–9 mm) in diameter.
Fruits: Fruits are strings of leathery pods up to 10″ (26 cm) long, with elliptic seeds ¼–5/16″ (7–9 mm) long, like pale green beads. They become dark brown.
Habitats: Common along watercourse edges in arid inland areas of eastern Australia, tolerating saline, alkaline, and waterlogged soils.
Online References:
4/6/2011 · Howard Peters Rawlings Conservatory & Botanic Gardens, Druid Hill Park, Baltimore, Maryland · ≈ 9 × 14″ (23 × 35 cm) 
4/6/2011 · Howard Peters Rawlings Conservatory & Botanic Gardens, Druid Hill Park, Baltimore, Maryland · ≈ 12 × 17″ (29 × 44 cm) 
4/6/2011 · Howard Peters Rawlings Conservatory & Botanic Gardens, Druid Hill Park, Baltimore, Maryland · ≈ 1 × 1½′ (34 × 51 cm) 
| Kingdom | Plantae | Plants, but not fungi, lichens, or algae (from Stearn's Botanical Latin) |
| Subkingdom | Tracheobionta | Vascular plants—plants with a “circulatory system” for delivering water and nutrients |
| Division | Magnoliophyta | Flowering plants, also known as angiosperms |
| Class | Magnoliopsida | Dicotyledons—plants with two initial seed leaves |
| Subclass | Rosidae | Roses, legumes, proteas, dogwoods, hydrangeas, mistletoes, euphorbias, grapes, many more |
| Order | Fabales | Legumes (pea and bean families) |
| Family | Fabaceae | Legume family (peas and beans) |
| Genus | Acacia | Thorny shrubs or trees |
| Species | stenophylla | Means “narrow-leaved” |
Acacia stenophylla description by Thomas H. Kent, not updated.
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