Vachellia campeachiana
Vachellia campeachiana, often called boatspine acacia or huinolo, is a shrub or small tree known for its enlarged, spoon-shaped thorns.[1] It belongs to the pea family, Fabaceae. Kew records it as native to Mexico, Honduras and Cuba, and places Acacia cymbispina and Acacia cochliacantha among its synonyms.[2]
Description
The taxonomic factsheet describes plants reaching about six metres, with grey to brown bark and twice-divided leaves containing many small leaflets. The stipular thorns, arising at the leaf bases, become broad and flattened as they develop. Their reddish or purplish colour can fade to grey with age. Young twigs may lack the conspicuously enlarged thorns seen on older branches.[3]
Small yellow flowers cluster into rounded heads. The reddish-brown, leathery pods are elongated and remain closed at maturity; their brown seeds are embedded in pulp. The treatment gives April to July as the flowering season for its account of the plant.[3]
Habitat and vegetation recovery
In southern Sonora, the Arizona-Sonora Desert Museum records huinolo in tropical deciduous forest, thornscrub and the southern edge of desert scrub. It is often prominent on disturbed ground.[4]
The museum describes it establishing in abandoned buffelgrass pastures in the tropical deciduous forest zone near Álamos. Its shade can suppress the grass, allowing a more diverse forest community to develop over subsequent decades. That regional observation does not establish the same outcome in every grassland or desert environment.[4]
Cultivation
The museum grows it as a desert landscape tree and describes its leaves as falling in response to cold or drought. Its thorny branches make locations beside busy paths unsuitable. It can provide light shade and cover for birds.[1]
Names
Some botanical accounts spell the epithet campechiana. This article follows Kew's spelling campeachiana. The name Acacia cymbispina refers to the same taxon in that treatment.[2][3]
References
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 Arizona-Sonora Desert Museum. “Boatspine Acacia or Huinolo”: plant care information. Accessed 9 October 2026.
- ↑ 2.0 2.1 Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew. “Vachellia campeachiana”. Plants of the World Online. Accessed 9 October 2026.
- ↑ 3.0 3.1 3.2 Centre for Plant Biodiversity Research. “Vachellia campechiana”: taxonomic factsheet. Accessed 9 October 2026.
- ↑ 4.0 4.1 Arizona-Sonora Desert Museum. “Acacia cochliacantha (huinolo, boatspine acacia)”. Research and Conservation in Southern Sonora. Accessed 9 October 2026.