Vachellia luederitzii

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

Vachellia luederitzii is a thorny shrub or tree in the pea family, Fabaceae, native to southern Africa. Its range includes Botswana, Eswatini, Mozambique, Namibia, South Africa, Zambia and Zimbabwe. The older name Acacia luederitzii remains common in regional floras; its current combination was published in 2013.

Appearance

Plants may branch near ground level or develop into trees, with a spreading, flattened or rounded crown. The southern African flora records heights up to about fifteen metres. Older trunks have rough, lengthwise-fissured bark, while young branchlets have a covering of pale hairs.

The paired spines vary markedly. Short hooked spines may occur together with longer, straighter ones; some plants also have swollen spines. The combination of thorn types is more useful than assuming that all spines on a plant have the same shape.

The regional account of variety luederitzii describes twice-divided leaves with numerous small hairy leaflets. Creamy-white flowers form rounded heads. The flattened pods are stiff but not woody, with thickened margins; they turn grey-brown to purplish-brown and split open. Its recorded flowering period, October to February, is a regional observation.

Habitat and variation

Kew recognises two varieties, luederitzii and retinens. The nominate variety is recorded from western Zambia, Namibia, western Zimbabwe and South Africa's Northern Cape. This narrower regional account should not be mistaken for the distribution of the entire species.

SANBI includes V. luederitzii among the woody plants of Kalahari Duneveld, an open, dry vegetation system with very variable rainfall and recurrent drought. In that landscape it occurs alongside other scattered trees and shrubs, above a sparse grassy layer. The description concerns this habitat association and does not imply that all populations occupy duneveld.