National Botanic Garden of Wales, United Kingdom

Common name: acasia pren du, blackwood, hickory, sally wattle, Australian blackwood

Family: Fabaceae subfam. Caesalpinioideae

Distribution: Australia

Life form: Evergreen tree • Coeden bythwyrdd

Geirdarddiad / Etymology: Acacia (a-KAY-see-uh): Greek; akis (a point or barb).

Geirdarddiad / Etymology: melanoxylon (mel-an-oh-ZY-lon): From the Greek melas- (black) and -xylon (wood).

Description: A very quick-growing tree to 12 metres tall or much more with a 6 metre wide, oval shaped crown. It has rough dark gray bark with vertical fissures and mid-green leaf-like flattened stems, called "phyllodes", that are 7-12 centimetres long by about 2.5 centimetres wide with one margin straight and the other curved. Small creamy flowers are in a small ball-like cluster from late winter into spring and are followed by thin curling seed pods that hang in brownish sheaves.