Acacia tetragonophylla
dead finish

Dead finish occurs throughout Fowlers Gap Station, often in the upper reaches of alluvial drainage channels and on free-draining colluvial footslopes of the quartzite ridges.

Dead finish is a many-branched prickly shrub 2-3 m or more tall. It takes its name from the fact that it is the last thing grazing animals will eat during a drought, because it's so prickly!

Bark: rough at base but grey and smooth on the upper branches.
Leaves: mostly in clusters of 2-5 on branches, leaves (phyllodes, actually) are spiny with long sharp points and are 4-angled due to raised veins.
Flowers: are golden and globular, either single or in clusters of 2-5 growing on glabrous stalks from the bases of leaf clusters.
Fruit: forms typical wattle-type seed pods that may be linear, curved or twisted, constricted between the seeds rather like green beans.
Source: Frank Kutsche and Brendan Lay (2003). Field guide to the plants of outback South Australia. Department of Water, Land and Biodiversity Conservation, South Australia, ISBN 0 7590 1052 8.
Phillip Moore (2005). A guide to plants of inland Australia. Reed New Holland, ISBN 1 876334 86 X.
Photos: Ian Roach

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