Wattle is the name used in Australia for trees and shrubs of the acacia group. Wattles have yellow or cream flowers arranged in cylindrical spikes or globular heads. Some have fernlike leaves. Others have wide, flat stems that look like leaves and have the same functions. Their seeds grow in pods that open in two valves. There are more than 600 kinds of wattles. Common varieties include the cedar, black, silver, and sunshine wattles. Boree gidgee, mulga, a tree called hickory, and blackwood are also wattles.
The name originally came from a tree called black wattle. This tree resembles acacias but is not botanically related to them. The early colonists used wood from these trees to put up buildings of wattle and daub—that is, twigs and mud. The name was later applied to acacias, which were also used in wattle and daub buildings.
