silver wattle

noun

1. a tree, Acacia dealbata, of the legume family, native to Australia and Tasmania, having feathery, silver-gray foliage and fragrant yellow flowers.

Word History and Origins

Origin of silver wattle¹

First recorded in 1870–75

Example Sentences

Tasmania is again a major character, a land of “writhing peppermint gums and silver wattle that waved and danced in the heat,” that is “hot and hard in summer, and hard, simply hard, in winter.”

From The New Yorker

The silver wattle of nursery catalogues is named for its abundant, silvery-pubescent, feathery foliage.

From Project Gutenberg

The silver wattle grows freely in shifting sands and by its means waste lands, e.g. the Cape Flats, have been reclaimed.

From Project Gutenberg

Acacia dealbata.—The silver wattle tree of Australia.

From Project Gutenberg

Save for the orange grove at the left and the ash-colored leaves of the silver wattle above them, Weldon could almost have fancied himself in England.

From Project Gutenberg