Spring notionally begins on September 1, Wattle Day. The golden wattle, Acacia pycnantha is the National floral emblem and incorporated in the country’s coat of arms.

In the northern hemisphere the seasons are not fixed by calendar dates but are derived from the timing of the solstices and equinox. If we followed that pattern Spring would not begin until September 23.

A bushwalk in the GeoRegion this week will reveal a number of flowering wattles marking the first of what should be a rich wild flower season after all the rain in August.

What’s a wattle? In 1985 that was easy to answer – one of about 1500 species of shrubs and trees in the Family Mimosaceae and Genus Acacia. About 950 are found in Australia and maybe 89 in the GeoRegion depending on which expert you read. Then in 1986 botanists reclassified them and split the genus in three with Africa getting the Acacia and Australasia getting the Racosperma. It made taxonomic sense but offended the populace in both regions and the new categories have not survived!

As for the word ‘wattle’ – it’s old English, and can be used as both a noun and a verb referring to the weaving of flexible sticks to make fences, panels, or buildings. And just to confuse you, wattle and daub buildings constructed in early Sydney did not use Acacia but selected Callicoma serratifolia commonly known as black wattle, but that isn’t an Acacia and belongs in a totally different family!