Acacia colei Maslin & L.A.J.Thomson

Spreading shrub 2–4 m high; occasionally a tree to 9 m high. New shoots sericeous; hairs pale yellow-brown, soon ageing silvery. Branchlets acutely angled, silvery-sericeous. Phyllodes normally obliquely narrowly elliptic, ±straight but commonly shallowly recurved at apices, mostly ascending to erect, 7–23 (–25) mm long, 10–45 (–55) mm wide, with knob-like mucro, silvery green, grey-green or bluish, sericeous but indumentum sparse on oldest phyllodes; main veins 3 or 4 per face, some confluent and ±contiguous with the lower margin at base; minor veins forming an obvious longitudinally orientated reticulum; gland absent from apex of phyllodes. Inflorescences rudimentary 2-headed racemes with axes to 0.5 mm long; peduncles (2–) 3–5 (–10) mm long, appressed-puberulous to sericeous, with indumentum sometimes sparse; spikes 3–7 cm long, golden. Flowers 5-merous; sepals united; petals hairy. Pods openly and strongly curved (var. colei) or tightly coiled (var. ileocarpa), with dehisced valves somewhat twisted, entangled and persisting as conspicuous clumps following dehiscence, 3.5–4 mm wide, thinly coriaceous-crustaceous, glabrous or subglabrous. Seeds longitudinal, normally oblong, 3–4 mm long, glossy, very dark brown to black; aril bright yellow.

Dense regrowth populations often develop in disturbed sites such as road verges, gravel pits and burnt areas. Details on the habitat and ecology of Acacia colei are provided by J.C. Doran et al., in J.C. Doran & J.W. Turnbull (eds), Australian Trees and Shrubs: Species for Land Rehabilitation and Farm Planting in the Tropics 128–131 (1997).

In West Africa Acacia colei is used on an increasing scale for windbreaks, land rehabilitation and fuelwood production. Also, the seeds are highly nutritious and have vast potential as a new food crop for dry, sub-Saharan Africa; var. ileocarpa is preferred to var. colei for this purpose, according to A. Rinaudo et al., Conservation Science Western Australia 4: 161–169 (2002) and A. Rinaudo & P.S. Cunningham, Muelleria 26: 79–85 (2006). Further details on the utilisation of A. colei are provided by K.F. Kenneally et al., Broome and Beyond 130 (1996) and J.C. Doran et al., in J.C. Doran & J.W. Turnbull (eds), Australian Trees and Shrubs: Species for Land Rehabilitation and Farm Planting in the Tropics 128–131 (1997).

Can be grown by seedlings. Seeds needs soaking.