Vachellia gummifera

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

Vachellia gummifera is a thorny shrub or small tree in the pea family, Fabaceae, endemic to Morocco. Its older name is Acacia gummifera Willd.; the combination in Vachellia was published in 2013.

Appearance

The plant may grow as a low shrub or as a tree about five or six metres tall, with a rounded crown. Its smooth, flexible branches carry paired curved thorns. Young thorns are reddish, becoming pale with age.

Leaves have one to three pairs of side branches, each with roughly seven to twelve pairs of small leaflets. The pods eventually split open, but do so relatively late in their development.

Range and ecology

This is a plant of Morocco's dry plains and foothills, including the Sous region and Anti-Atlas. It occurs in the transition between Mediterranean and Saharan vegetation, including argan scrub and bushland associated with Ziziphus lotus. An FAO account reports seed regeneration in years of unusually high rainfall; this is a reported ecological pattern, not evidence that regeneration occurs nowhere else.

Uses

The tree produces gum that has been traded locally. Its wood has been used for fuel, charcoal and tool handles. Livestock browse it, and browsing by hares is also reported. These uses describe its place in the local economy without establishing a current population trend.

A name shared by different plants

The author abbreviation after the old name matters. Acacia gummifera Willd. denotes this Moroccan plant; Acacia gummifera (Forssk.) Delile is a different historical name, placed by Kew under Vachellia tortilis subsp. spirocarpa. The navigation page Acacia gummifera separates the two usages.