Thanks Geoff and Betty - I went back through my records of Yarralumla Nursery and found that Acacia floribunda was there fifth best seller after A. baileyana, A. decurrens, A. cultriformis and A. boormanii and yet I don't recall seeing it behave as a weed. So either I'm missing something or it is a non-weedy non-local wattle.
The easiest way is to look at how close the individual tiny flowers are to each other - far enough apart to see the gaps easily in floribunda, and looking like a cylindrical flower with them all very close together in longifolia.
The density of the flowers on the spike is an immediate diagnostic feature as mentioned above. Phyllode width is the second. A. longifolia is broad lanceolate whereas floribunda is linear lanceolate. Closeup shows no sign of a gland, whereas longifolia has a (usually) conspicuous basal gland. Flower colour is paler in floribunda than longifolia. They are very closely related in many other aspects. I had a quick check of the identified longifolia and I think there are seven which need review. They all have coordinates so will field check the problem ones in the near future
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