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Acacia karroo

(Cassie Â… Piquants Blancs)

Overview

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Used for fuelwood and charcoal (Wickens et al. 1995). Although relatively fast-growing, A. karroo produces a wood of surprisingly high density - about 800-890 kg/m3. As a fuelwood, it does not produce long-lasting coals like Combretum imberbe or mopane, but it generates a lot of heat and burns very evenly and cleanly with little smoke. It is therefore a preferred fuelwood in many areas where open fires are used for cooking. It also makes an excellent charcoal. Its ability to coppice means that some form of sustainable utilization is possible. The wood is of medium even texture with very wide and creamy brown sapwood and red-brown heartwood. It is not durable and is prone to splitting and twisting. It is also rapidly attacked by a host of wood-boring insects, especially if there is still any bark attached, and is also liable to fungal attack. Leaving logs under water for a year is supposed to reduce insect attack. Although A. karroo produces a tough resilient timber that planes and finishes well, its use is limited by the small size of most trees . It has been used for utility timber and, occasionally, furniture. In the past it has been used for wagon wheels , yokes, coffins, fence posts and rural implements. The inner bark is used for cordage and tanning, having between 13-19% tannin, and as a dye giving a yellow to brown colour for fabrics and a red colour to leather . Infusion of bark is given as an antidote to cattle poisoned by Morea. The red-gold gum is collected and sold commercially for use as a gum arabic substitute, and formerly exported as gomme de Cap. The edible gum, often chewed by children and baboons, is used in the food and pharmaceutical industries, and can also be used as an adhesive. The fibrous inner bark is chewed as well to alieviate thirst. A. karroo is an important rangeland tree. It is always associated with sweetveld grasses - those grasses which remain palatable through the dry season - and provides much nitrogen to the soil through its root nodules and litterfall. However, A. karroo can be invasive in badly managed rangeland, but if the trees are allowed to grow and are then thinned and pruned to allow light to penetrate to the ground , and cattle to access the grass underneath, a parkland can develop with a high potential for meat production . In addition, both the pods and foliage provide good browse for both cattle and wildlife. In Zimbabwe an infusion of roots of A. karroo is used by Ndebele traditional healers against general body pains, and by Shona healers against dizziness, convulsions, gonorrhoea and as an aphrodisiac . Roots are also placed in chicken runs to reduce parasites. A decoction of the bark has been used as an astringent and emetic and as an antidote to 'tulp' (Moraea) poisoning in cattle. A mucilage of the gum relieves thrush in the mouth . Minor uses include the use of thorns as needles , pins and pegs, and the flowers are an important source of pollen and nectar for honeybees. The seeds are a coffee substitute when roasted (Timberlake et al. 1999, Wickens et al 1995).

Vulnerable
Threat status

Common Names

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Click on the language to view common names.

Common Names in Afrikaans:

Soetdoorn, Soetdoring

Common Names in English:

Cape Gum, Cassie Â… Piquants Blancs, Cassie á Piquants Blancs, Cassie … Piquants Blancs, Cockspur Thorn, Doorn Boom, Karroo Thorn, Karroothorn, Mimosa Thorn, Sweet Thorn, Sweet-Thorn

Common Names in Hawaiian:

Deo-Babool, Kikar, Mormati, Pahari Kikar

Common Names in Hindi:

देवबबूल, Dev Babool

Common Names in Ndebele (South Afric:

Isinga

Common Names in Shona:

Mubayamhondoro

Common Names in Tamil:

Kaludai, Udai Vel

Common Names in Tswana:

Mooka, Mookana

Description

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Family Fabaceae

The Fabaceae are herbs, vines , shrubs , trees , and lianas found in both temperate and tropical areas. They comprise one of the largest families of flowering plants , numbering 630 genera and 18,000 species. The leaves are stipulate , nearly always alternate, and range from bipinnately or palmately compound to simple . The petiole base is commonly enlarged into a pulvinus that commonly functions in orientation of the leaves (sometimes very responsively, as in the sensitive plant, Mimosa pudica). The flowers are usually bisexual , actinomorphic to zygomorphic, slightly to strongly perigynous, and commonly in racemes , spikes, or heads . The perianth commonly consists of a calyx and corolla of 5 segments each. The androecium consists of commonly 1- many stamens (most commonly 10), distinct or variously united , sometimes some of them reduced to staminodes. The pistil is simple, often stipitate , comprising a single style and stigma, and a superior ovary with one locule containing 2-many marginal ovules. The fruit is usually a legume, sometimes a samara, loment, follicle, indehiscent pod, achene, drupe, or berry. The seeds often have a hard coat with hourglass-shaped cells , and sometimes bear a u-shaped line called a pleurogram. [Carr]

Subfamily Mimosoideae

Mostly trees or shrubs . Leaves mostly bipinnate. Corolla usually not showy, actinomorphic , sympetalous , the lobes valvate . Stamens 10-numerous, often monadelphous , showy. Pollen released in monads , tetrads , or polyads . Seeds with u-shaped line (pleurogram) present. [Carr]

Genus Acacia

Trees , shrubs , rarely herbs, often prickly or spinose . Leaves bipinnate; leaflets small and numerous or leaves reduced to phyllodes; petiolar glands often present; stipules generally spinescent . Inflorescence cylindric spike or globose head ; peduncle solitary axillary or fasciculate or paniculate at the end of branches; bracts often two, scale like, situated on the peduncle at various levels. Flowers small, 3-5-merous, bisexual or plants polygamous. Calyx campanulate , dentate , lobed or polysepalous . Petals usually more or less united , rarely absent. Stamens indefinite, free or shortly and irregularly connate at the base ; anthers small, eglandular . Ovary sessile or stipitate , with 2 or more ovules. Fruit ovate to linear , straight, arcuate or contorted, membranous to woody, rarely articulated or moniliform . Seed large, with a filiform funicle or fleshy aril.

A genus with about 900 species; distributed mainly in tropics and subtropics, especially in Africa and Australia.[1]

Physical Description

Habit: Shrub , Tree • Climbing: Not Climbing

Flowers: Bloom Period: April, May. • Flower Color: yellow

Size/Age/Growth

Size: under 6" tall.

Biology

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Reproduction

Duration: Perennial

Growth

Sunlight: Sun Exposure: Full Sun .

Moisture: Drought Tolerance: High

Temperature: Cold Hardiness: 9a, 9b, 10a, 10b, 11. (map)

Taxonomy

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Unambiguous Synonyms

  1. Acacia campbellii Arn.
  2. Acacia dekindtiana A. Chev.
  3. Acacia inconflagrabilis Gerstner
  4. Acacia karoo Hayne
  5. Acacia minutifolia Ragup. , Thoth. & Mahad.
  6. Acacia natalitia E. Mey.
  7. Acacia pseudowightii Thoth.
  8. Acacia roxburghii Wight & Arn.
  9. Mimosa eburnea L. F.

Misapplied Names

  1. Acacia eburnea (L.f.)Willd.
  2. Acacia horrida (L.)Willd.

Notes

Publishing author : E.Mey. Publication : Comm. Pl. Afr. Austr. (Meyer) 167. Publishing author: Gerstner Publication: J. S. African Bot. xiv. 24 (1948). Publishing author: Arn Publication: in Nov. Act. Nat. Cur. xviii. I. (9 836) 334 Name Status: Accepted Name . Latest taxonomic scrutiny: Rico M .L., 1994

Similar Species

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Members of the genus Acacia

ZipcodeZoo has pages for 2783 species, subspecies, varieties, forms, and cultivars in this genus. Here are just 100 of them:

A. abbatiana · A. abbreviata · A. abietina · A. abrupta · A. abstergens · A. abyssinica (Nyanga Flat-Top) · A. abyssinica abyssinica · A. abyssinica calophylla · A. acanthaster · A. acanthocarpa · A. acanthoclada (Harrow Wattle) · A. acanthoclada acanthoclada · A. acanthoclada glaucescens · A. acanthoclada subsp. glaucescens · A. acanthoclada var. glaucescens (Harrow Wattle) · A. acantholoba · A. acanthophora · A. acanthophylla · A. acapulcensis · A. acatlensis · A. accola · A. acellerata · A. acicularis · A. acinacea (Round-Leaved Wattle) · A. acinacea 'Ruby Tips' · A. acinacea var. brevipedunculata · A. aciphylla · A. acoma · A. acradena · A. acradenia · A. acrionastes · A. acuaria · A. acuifera · A. aculeaticarpa (Catclaw Mimosa) · A. aculeatissima (Thin-Leaf Wattle) · A. aculeiformis · A. acuminata (Raspberry Jam) · A. acuminata acuminata (Raspberry Jam) · A. acuminata burkittii · A. acutangula · A. acutata · A. acutifolia · A. acutistipula · A. adansonii · A. adenanthera · A. adenantheroides · A. adenocalyx · A. adenocarpa · A. adenogonia · A. adenopa · A. adenophora · A. adenostylis · A. adhaerens · A. adherens · A. adiantoides · A. adinophylla · A. adnata · A. adoxa · A. adoxa var. adoxa · A. adoxa var. subglabra · A. adpressa · A. adstringens · A. adsurgens · A. adunca (Wallangarra Wattle) · A. aegyptiaca · A. aemula · A. aemula aemula · A. aemula muricata · A. aemula subsp. muricata · A. aestivalis · A. alata (Winged Wattle) · A. alata var. alata · A. alata var. biglandulosa · A. alata var. glabrata · A. alata var. platyptera · A. alata var. tetrantha · A. alaticaulis · A. alba · A. albescens · A. albicans · A. albicorticata (Espinillo Blanco) · A. albida · A. albizioides (Climbing Wattle) · A. albocorticata · A. alcockii · A. alemquerensis · A. alexandri · A. alleniana · A. allenii · A. alliacea · A. alocophylla · A. alpina (Alpine Wattle) · A. altiscandens · A. alvaroi · A. amabilis · A. amambayensis · A. amanda · A. amazonica · A. ambigua · A. amblygona (Fan Wattle)

More Info

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Further Reading

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Notes

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Contributors

Data Sources

Accessed through GBIF Data Portal November 15, 2007:

Identifiers

Footnotes

  1. "Acacia". in Flora of Pakistan. Published by Science Press (Beijing) and Missouri Botanical Garden Press. Online at EFloras.org. [back]
Last Revised: 7/2/2009