About the Catchment Area : Flora and Fauna

Bugger Bush

This species is commonly known as bugger bush, as its large spines can cause considerable pain. It is a native plant and very important component of habitat on watercourses for birds, insects and mammals and it has an important role as a weed suppressant and soil improver in revegetation projects.

Description and Distribution: A dense or spreading prickly shrub to three metres high. Leaves (phyllodes) are oblong to lanceolate (shaped like a lance), wavy on the margins, to 2 cm in length and 3-7cm broad, with or without hairs. It occurs in dense patches in woodland, open forest and open scrub vegetation. It is thought to occur in two forms as follows:

• Hill Form: Has larger leaves and spines, and is spreading rather than dense bushy.
• Plain Form: Has much smaller leaves and spines, and forms a dense and bushy shrub.

Foliage of Acacia paradoxa
Left-Hill Form	Right-Plain Form

Flowers:
Deep golden yellow globular buds that contain around forty small flowers.

Flowering Time:
August to October

Pod and Seed Shape and Size:
Pods are cylindrical, can be straight or curved, covered with fine hairs. Pods and seeds of the hill form are larger and less hairy than plain form.

Hints on Seed Collection:
You will need strong gloves to collect this seed. For larger amounts to use in direct seeding try laying a tarpaulin under the shrub and beating the shrub with a broom handle, ripe seed will fall off onto the tarpaulin.

Propagation Hints:
Use a hot water treatment to break seed dormancy. Sow up to 5mm in depth in a native plant potting mix. Can be grown almost all year but may need some extra soil heat to germinate in winter. Grow local seed that you have collected, as this will be the best way of ensuring the two forms of this plant are not planted in the wrong areas.

Habitat and Ecology:
Generally, Acacia paradoxa has a role to play in the ecosystem and for most degraded sites will form a critical component of habitat, especially as other woody weeds such as blackberry are removed. The seed is also long lived and remains in the soil’s very own seed bank, giving your revegetation project the chance to be self sustaining beyond your lifetime.