Acacia daphnifolia, also known as northern manna gum, is a tree or shrub belonging to the genus Acacia and the subgenus Phyllodineae that is endemic to Western Australia.
The tree or shrub typically grows to a height of 4m (13feet) and has smooth light grey to red-brown bark on the stem and major branches. It is often composed of multiple stems and can spread by root-suckering. The dull-green phyllodes are patent or occasionally sub-pendulous with an oblanceolate to narrowly elliptic shape. The straight to shallowly recurved phyllodes have a length of and a width of .[1] It blooms from May to June and produces yellow flowers. The inflorescences have spherical flower-heads that have a diameter of containing 17 to 30 showy golden flowers with a delicate fragrance. The dark brown to black seed pods that form after flowering resemble a string of beads and have a length of and a width of . The dull brown to black seeds have an oblong to elliptic shape. Seeds are in length and in width.[1]
The species was first formally described by the botanist Carl Meissner in 1855 in the work Botanische Zeitung. The only synonyms are Acacia microbotrya var. borealis and Acacia subfalcata.[2] The plant is a part of the Acacia microbotrya along with Acacia amblyophylla and Acacia splendens.[1]
It is native to an area in the Mid West and Wheatbelt regions of Western Australia. The plant is often situated in a variety of habitats including low hills, along the banks of creeks, around areas of saline drainage, flats and road verges where it grows in gravelly sandy-clay or loamy soils found around outcrops of granite or laterite.