SPECIES: Acacia anomala — Chittering Grass Wattle
CLASSIFICATION: Endangered
The Chittering Grass Wattle is a botanical oddity. It’s a wattle that looks more like a tuft of grass than a shrub and one found nowhere else on Earth. Its slender stems and golden pom-pom blooms brighten the granite slopes north-east of Perth each spring, a tiny survivor of ancient landscapes that have long since changed around it. First described in the 1840s, it remains one of Western Australia’s most localised and unusual acacias.
Endemic to just a handful of sites, the species faces ongoing pressures from land clearing, weeds and altered fire patterns. Conservation efforts focus on habitat protection, seed banking, and weed control to ensure this curious little wattle continues to thrive; a reminder that even the smallest, strangest plants have a place in the wild tapestry.
Photo: Jean and Fred