Acacia mearnsii
| Acacia mearnsii | |
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| Scientific classification | |
| Kingdom: | Plantae |
| (unranked): | Angiosperms |
| (unranked): | Eudicots |
| (unranked): | Rosids |
| Order: | Fabales |
| Family: | MIMOSACEAE |
| Genus: | Acacia |
| Species: | A. mearnsii |
| Binomial name | |
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Acacia mearnsii De Wild. |
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| Synonyms | |
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Acacia mearnsii is a fast-growing, extremely invasive leguminous tree native to Australia. Common names for it include black wattle, Acácia-negra (Portuguese), Australian acacia, Australische Akazie (German), Swartwattel (Afrikaans), Uwatela (Zulu). This plant is now known as one of the worst invasive species in the world.
Belgian naturalist Émile Auguste Joseph De Wildeman described the black wattle in 1925. The species is named after American naturalist Edgar Alexander Mearns, who collected the type from a cultivated specimen in East Africa. Along with other bipinnate wattles, it is classified in the section Botrycephalae within the subgenus Phyllodineae in the genus Acacia. An analysis of genomic and chloroplast DNA along with morphological characters found that the section is polyphyletic, though the close relationships of many species were unable to be resolved. Acacia mearnsii appears to be most closely related to A. dealbata, A. nanodealbata and A. baileyana.
A. mearnsii is native to south-eastern Australia and Tasmania, but has been introduced to North America, South America, Asia, Europe, Pacific and Indian Ocean islands, Africa, and New Zealand.
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