Acacia kempeana , commonly known as wanderrie wattle, witchetty bush or granite wattle, is a shrub

Shrub

A shrub or bush is distinguished from a tree by its multiple stems and shorter height, usually under 5–6 m tall. A large number of plants may become either shrubs or trees, depending on the growing conditions they experience...

  in subfamily Mimosoideae

Mimosoideae

Mimosoideae is a subfamily of the flowering plant family Fabaceae characterized by flowers with small petals and numerous prominent stamens...

 of family

Family (biology)

In biological classification, family is* a taxonomic rank. Other well-known ranks are life, domain, kingdom, phylum, class, order, genus, and species, with family fitting between order and genus. As for the other well-known ranks, there is the option of an immediately lower rank, indicated by the...

 Fabaceae

Fabaceae

The Fabaceae or Leguminosae, commonly known as the legume, pea, or bean family, is a large and economically important family of flowering plants. The group is the third largest land plant family, behind only the Orchidaceae and Asteraceae, with 730 genera and over 19,400 species...

. Endemic to Australia

Australia

Australia , officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country in the Southern Hemisphere comprising the mainland of the Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous smaller islands in the Indian and Pacific Oceans. It is the world's sixth-largest country by total area...

, it is widely distributed through arid and semi-arid inland areas of Western Australia

Western Australia

Western Australia is a state of Australia, occupying the entire western third of the Australian continent. It is bounded by the Indian Ocean to the north and west, the Great Australian Bight and Indian Ocean to the south, the Northern Territory to the north-east and South Australia to the south-east...

, South Australia

South Australia

South Australia is a state of Australia in the southern central part of the country. It covers some of the most arid parts of the continent; with a total land area of , it is the fourth largest of Australia's six states and two territories.South Australia shares borders with all of the mainland...

, the Northern Territory

Northern Territory

The Northern Territory is a federal territory of Australia, occupying much of the centre of the mainland continent, as well as the central northern regions...

 and Queensland

Queensland

Queensland is a state of Australia, occupying the north-eastern section of the mainland continent. It is bordered by the Northern Territory, South Australia and New South Wales to the west, south-west and south respectively. To the east, Queensland is bordered by the Coral Sea and Pacific Ocean...

.

Description

Wanderrie wattle grows as a spreading shrub with many stems, to a height of about four metres. Like most Acacia

Acacia

Acacia is a genus of shrubs and trees belonging to the subfamily Mimosoideae of the family Fabaceae, first described in Africa by the Swedish botanist Carl Linnaeus in 1773. Many non-Australian species tend to be thorny, whereas the majority of Australian acacias are not...

species, it has phyllodes rather than true leaves. These are a bright green colour, flat, up to nine centimetres long and 1½ centimetres wide. The flowers are yellow, and held in cylindrical clusters between one and two centimetres long. The pods are papery, about seven centimetres long and 1½ centimetres wide.

Uses

The common name "witchetty bush" refers to the fact that Australian Aborigines obtained witchetty grub

Witchetty grub

The witchetty grub is a term used in Australia for the large, white, wood-eating larvae of several moths...

s from the roots. The bush also provided edible gum

Australian Aboriginal sweet foods

Australian Aborigines had many ways to source sweet foods. The four main types of sweet foods gathered – apart from ripe fruit – were:* honey from ants and bees * leaf scale * tree sap* flower nectar...

and seeds.