Acacia crassicarpa A.Cunn. ex Benth.

Tree 6–25 (–30) m high; canopy grey-green. Bark deeply rimose. Branchlets slightly angular towards apices, glabrous. Phyllodes lanceolate, attenuated at both ends, falcate or subfalcate, 8–27 cm long, (7–) 10–45 mm wide, coriaceous or thinly coriaceous, pale green to grey-green, glabrous; longitudinal veins numerous (4–6 per mm), parallel and not anastomosing, 3 main veins raised (when dry), broader and more prominent than the rest, 3 or 4 less prominent secondary veins also present, with minor veins not or scarcely raised; lowermost main veins commonly confluent with lower margin for a short distance above pulvinus; pulvinus (5–) 8–16 mm long. Inflorescences simple, 2–6 per axil; peduncles 3–10 mm long, glabrous; spikes (2–) 3–7 cm long, pale yellow to light golden. Flowers 5-merous; calyx gamosepalous, shallowly dissected, glabrous; ovary densely hairy on upper half. Pods oblong to narrowly oblong, flat, sometimes spirally once twisted, ±straight, (3–) 4–12 cm long, (1–) 2–4.5 cm wide including wing, woody, resinous, glabrous, dehiscing along ventral suture, with ± transverse, numerous, crowded, rather fine veins. Seeds transverse, oblong to ovate, 5–6 mm long, black; aril 5–20 mm long.

A tropical plant. It mostly occurs in the tropics in Australia and Papua New Guinea. In Papua New Guinea it occurs in the dry Western province regions. It prefers light soils in an open sunny position. It can resist drought and frost. But it grows better with extra water during dry periods. It mostly occurs in coastal regions up to 30 m altitude. It suits hardiness zones 10-12.

Details of the utilisation of Acacia crassicarpa are given in J.W. Turnbull (ed.), Multipurpose Australian Trees and Shrubs 128–129 (1986), L. Thomson, Acacia aulacocarpa, A. cincinnata, A. crassicarpa and A. wetarensis: an Annotated Bibliography 25–30 (1994), 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 136–137 (1997), M.W. McDonald & B.R. Maslin, Australian Systematic Botany 13(1): 39–45 (2000), D.J. Boland et al., Forest Trees of Australia 5th edn, 146–147 (2006), and CABI (accessed July 2021). Fast growing Acacia planted to stabilise degraded sites and widely utilised as a tropical plantation tree (sawn timber, paper pulp), e.g. in Indonesia, SE Asia, some Pacific Islands (see above references). Cultivated on beaches to provide shade (Zich et al. 2020).

It is grown from seed. Seed need treatment to break the hard seed coat. Normally this is by putting the seeds in very hot water and letting the water cool down overnight then planting the seeds immediately. The pods occur in October to November.