Senegalia gourmaensis

Tilcayo Cats original · Plants · Sources and editorial assessment · Originals retention rule

Senegalia gourmaensis is a shrub or small tree in the pea family, Fabaceae, native to West Africa. Kew records it from Benin, Burkina Faso, Ghana, Ivory Coast, Niger, Nigeria and Togo, principally in seasonally dry tropical environments. Previously named Acacia gourmaensis, it was transferred to Senegalia in 2013.

Appearance

The plant usually reaches about four metres, although taller trees occur. Its crown is relatively open. Corky bark breaks into small scales, while the branchlets carry paired, hooked prickles. The leaves divide into a few pairs of side branches bearing broad, small leaflets.

Scented cream or yellowish-white flowers grow in slender clusters about 3–5 centimetres long. Their numerous stamens extend beyond the small petals. The fruit is a thin, flattened pod, approximately 2.5–6.5 centimetres long, that opens to release one or two rounded, flattened seeds.

Ecology and restoration research

Honey bees visit the flowers. The plant also yields gum, and its wood has been used as fuel and for charcoal.

A field experiment in degraded land in Burkina Faso compared three ways of planting nursery-grown seedlings of this species and Senegalia dudgeonii. The researchers followed survival and growth for one and a half years. For S. gourmaensis, survival was 72.2% in half-moon planting structures, 62.5% in standard planting and 57.5% in zaï pits. These results concern the tested site and conditions; they are not fixed survival rates for the species wherever it is planted.

The study highlights the importance of matching restoration methods to local soil-water conditions. It provides evidence of performance in a particular restoration trial rather than a survey of the species' conservation status.