Acacia diffusa Ker

A shrub sometimes attaining a height of 9 ft in the wild but more commonly of low and spreading habit; branches stiff and angular. Phyllodes rigid, linear, ending in a sharp point, slightly tapered at the base, straight or sickle-shaped, up to 1 in. long, sometimes more, and 1⁄12 to 1⁄8 in. wide. Flower-heads globular, bright yellow, on stalks up to 1 in. long, usually borne two or three together in each leaf-axil.

Native of Tasmania, Victoria, and New South Wales; introduced in 1818. The low-growing form of this species, introduced from Tasmania by Comber (No. 1446), has proved to be one of the hardiest of the acacias. It flowers well each spring on a wall outside the Temperate House at Kew, and survived the winter of 1962–3.