Acacia saligna (Port Jackson, Port Jackson willow)

Life > eukaryotes > Archaeoplastida > Chloroplastida > Charophyta > Streptophytina > Plantae (land plants) > Tracheophyta (vascular plants) > Euphyllophyta > Lignophyta (woody plants) > Spermatophyta (seed plants) > Angiospermae (flowering plants) > Eudicotyledons > Fabales > Family: Fabaceae > Genus: Acacia

Acacia saligna (Port Jackson, Port Jackson willow) growing in farmland south of Malmesbury, Western Cape, South Africa and under attack by the gall-forming rust fungus that was introduced to South Africa as a biological control agent of this weed. [photos H.G. Robertson, Iziko ©]

Native to western Australia. A Category 2 invasive plant in South Africa. The distinctive galls of the introduced rust fungus Uromycladium tepperianum are probably the easiest way of identifying this plant.

Ecological relationships in southern Africa

See also Ecological relationships of Acacia species in southern Africa.

Herbivores

List of Lepidoptera from Kroon (1999).

Anthene definita Lepidoptera: Lycaenidae Larvae eat the leaves.

Rust fungi

Uromycladium tepperianum  Fungi > Basidiomycota > Uredinales A gall-forming rust fungus introduced to South Africa from Australia in 1987 as a biological control agent. Has been highly effective in controlling Acacia saligna as a weed.

References

• Kroon, D.M. 1999. Lepidoptera of Southern Africa. Host-plants and other Associations. A Catalogue. Lepidopterists' Society of Africa, South Africa.