The ghost wattle, Acacia platycarpa (family Mimosaceae), is a tree of open forest and woodland. It has broad, sickle-shaped leaves with prominent, parallel veins. The cream-coloured flowers are globular and concentrated near the end of branches. The pods are broad, flat and woody.

This tree's nectar popular with many birds such as the blue-eyed honeyeater and the rainbow lorikeet. It is also taken by flying-foxes and sugarbag bees. People also eat the nectar by sucking it directly from the flowers or shaking it from the flowers into water and mixing it up. For more information on plant food and the traditional subsistence of Aboriginal people in central Cape York Peninsula, see the Edible plant products page.