Bower Wattle

Acacia cognata is an erect or spreading shrub or tree that typically grows to a height of 3–10 m (9.8–32.8 ft) and is often sticky. Its branchlets are usually glabrous, willowy and arching. Its bark is smooth, grey or greyish brown. The phyllodes are linear to very narrowly elliptic,40–100 mm (1.6–3.9 in) long, 1–3.5 mm (0.039–0.138 in) wide and dark green to yellowish green. The flowers are borne in two spherical heads in axils on a peduncle usually 3–6 mm (0.12–0.24 in) long, each head 4–5 mm (0.16–0.20 in) in diameter with 10 to 17 pale lemon-yellow flowers. Flowering occurs from July to November, and the pods are linear, papery and glabrous, up to 100 mm (3.9 in) long, 2–4 mm (0.079–0.157 in) wide and slightly raised over seeds. The seeds are dark brown, oblong, 4.0–4.5 mm (0.16–0.18 in) long with an aril on the end.

Bower wattle grows in granite-based soils in moist gullies and hillsides in forest. It occurs on the coastal plain and adjacent foothills of the Great Dividing Range south from the Nowra district in New South Wales to near Orbost with an isolated occurrence near Pokolbin in New South Wales.