Vachellia gerrardi

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

Vachellia gerrardi is a thorny tree or shrub in the pea family, Fabaceae. It is native to large parts of tropical and southern Africa, with additional populations in southwestern Asia and the Arabian Peninsula. Kew accepts the spelling gerrardi, with a single final i.

Appearance

The regional flora describes trees commonly 3–15 metres tall, with an umbrella-shaped, flattened or irregular crown. The trunk has rough, fissured bark. Young twigs can shed their outer covering to reveal a rusty-red layer beneath. Leaves divide twice into numerous small leaflets.

The scented white or cream flowers are arranged in rounded heads. Curved, slender pods split open when mature and contain flattened olive-brown seeds. Spines are often short and fairly straight, although their length and curvature vary.

Habitat and variation

The flora records woodland and wooded grassland. Kew recognises four varieties: gerrardi, calvescens, latisiliqua and najdensis. The species-level distribution spans several African regions and extends through Sinai and the southern Levant to parts of Iraq and Arabia; individual varieties occupy only parts of this range.

Ecological research

Seed collected in Kenya was used in a greenhouse experiment on competition between savanna tree seedlings and grasses. Researchers grew this species alongside two other Vachellia species and three grasses, supplying different amounts of giraffe or zebra dung. The balance of nitrogen and phosphorus in the dung influenced which plant group competed more successfully.

Tree seedlings as a group performed relatively better with the more phosphorus-rich zebra dung, while grasses were stronger competitors with giraffe dung. The analysis pooled the trees by functional group. It was not a separate estimate of the response of V. gerrardi, nor a direct prediction of adult tree abundance in the wild.

Spelling

The names Acacia gerrardii and Vachellia gerrardii, with two final i letters, occur in published sources. Kew's name service links those usages to the accepted Vachellia gerrardi. The spelling difference should not be treated as evidence for a second species.