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(Based on an article by Tom Fawcett in "Your Garden")
About 950 species of the Acacia genus are growing in Australia. The colour of their flowers ranges from almost white, through cream, lemon, to rich gold (Ed: and one north Queensland species has pink blossoms). The golden wattle is recognised world wide as an emblem of Australia.
About four years ago, bushwalkers in a state forest 40km north of Melbourne discovered a single specimen of a wattle which they described as having flowers of "a spectacular crimson colour". News of the discovery was kept secret except for a few people in horticultural circles, and its existence has only become general knowledge in recent months.
David Cameron, a senior botanist involved with threatened flora and fauna research at the Arthur Rylah Institute for Environmental Research in Melbourne, and Bill Molyneux, Australian native plant expert and botanist, visited the site of the original specimen in the wild and collected 12 cuttings.
Sadly, the original specimen of the wattle, a 1.9 metre form of the Cinnamon Wattle, Acacia leprosa, is now dead. Some horticulturists speculated that the red wattle might have been lost for ever. Fortunately the Royal Botanic Gardens in Melbourne have reported that they have two plants that are very healthy and very happy and more cuttings have been taken from these plants.
There are few doubts that this wattle would have an exciting future, with the potential to provide an immense marketing coup for Australia. However, ownership and Plant Breeder's Rights have to be established and sufficient stocks be propagated to ensure a commercially viable operation.
This red form of Acacia leprosa is probably the result of a genetic mutation; so that seeds from the red plant are unlikely to produce red offspring. The only way to multiply the red form is from cuttings from the original plant, or perhaps by cloning cells by tissue culture techniques.
(Reproduced from Burrendong Arboretum BRIGGE, January 1998)
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