Shrub or small tree 4-8 m tall. Phyllodes broadly oblanceolate, 7-20 cm long, 1-5 cm wide, curved or sickle-shaped, leathery, with many prominent lateral veins and a raised marginal vein. Glands are on the upper margin, one near the base and sometimes another near the centre. Flower heads globular, dark yellow, in clusters from the leaf axils, fragrant; spring. Fruit pods 5-10 cm long, 5-7 mm wide, flat, papery when mature and slightly constricted between the seeds.
A. beckleri Tindale, Barrier Range Wattle, from SA and NSW has phyllodes more or less straight and with a symmetrical base; A. rubida A. Cunn., Red-stem Wattle, from SA, Qld, NSW and Vic has reddish branches, branchlets with bipinnate leaves often present on the mature plants and flowers 10-15 in each head; A. saliciformis Tindale from NSW has pendulous branches, a characteristic kidney-shaped gland well up the margin and a vein connecting with the midrib on phyllodes 6-12 cm long; A. salicina Lindl., Coobah (Native Willow), from all states has linear-lanceolate phyllodes 5-18 cm long, with a central vein and with a distinctive gland at the tip and another at the base.
SA, Vic, NSW.
Source: (2002). Mimosaceae. In: . Horticultural Flora of South-eastern Australia. Volume 3. Flowering plants. Dicotyledons. Part 2. The identification of garden and cultivated plants. University of New South Wales Press.