Thread: Dead Fin

Dead finish or Prickly wattle
Acacia tetragonophylla F.Muell.....[kurara, curara]

Acacia
from Greek "akakia", sharp point

tetragonophylla
tetra (Greek) = four
gonia (Greek)= an angle
phullo, phullon (Greek) = leaf, leaflet

So this plant is the
sharp-point-plant with four-angled leaflets

One of the extremely hardy plants in the Australian Outback

Various explanations are given as to why the plant is called "Dead-finish". It is an extremely hardy plant and some people reckon that its name simply means that this plant can survive longest, and when droughts are so severe that even Acacia tetragonophylla dies, then everything else is "well and truly finished".

"... plague proportions of rabbits used to occur during good years and these animals ate everything in sight in a last ditch-stand against starvation when drought followed rains. The rabbits stood on their hind legs and nipped off any shoot ... they even climbed the spreading branches of the Acacia tetragonophylla ... to a height of 5 metres in search for food and often died caught in their branches ..." (Specht, R.L., 1972, "The Vegetation of South Australia", p 189)

The plant is called dead finish throughout most of Australia but confusion arises in the north-east of the continent. In Queensland, the same name also applies to the plant Albizia basaltica. As with Mulga (Acacia aneura) the scientific name of dead-finish is based on a prominent characteristic of the leaflets.
Dead-finish bushes can be found in varying sizes from about 30 cm high to about 2 m, sometimes even up to 5 m. Some are quite scraggly but despite their shape and their prickly phyllodes I like these bushes very much, their charm stemming mainly from the individual, prominent little flower heads sticking out from the branches. However, tastes are different and the bush is rarely used as an ornamental plant. Nevertheless, it is useful for its soil-binding qualities, particularly in sandy areas.

What you have is Dead Finish. What I know as Dead Finish is Nettle Wattle (Acacia carneorum) but often also applied to Prickly Wattle (Acacia tetragonophylla) which often grows nearby. And yes, they grow in "mulga territory."

Either way, they're the same to work. Dark heart, creamy sapwood. Typical Oz desert wood: hard, fine-grained and heavy. Hard on tools but well worth the results. One of my favourite turning woods.

Hi there Harry, that was quick.
I presume I can expect similar working properties to mulga then.
Thanks, and if I come across anymore strange ones in this load
I know where to come for help.

Harry I was led to believe by my grand dad that it was called that because in a drought if it died there was nothing else left as it was believed to be the hardiest tree of all.

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