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Acacia drepanolobium

(Whistling Thorn)

Overview

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Mbeere women of Kenya use dry branches to ignite 'hot' kindling for a steady burn of charcoal when firing pottery. They use the thorny branches for livestock pens (zaribas/bomas). The wood , usually in small dimensions, is hard, heavy, durable and termite resistent. It is used in agricultural implements, tool handles, Y poles to support graneries, and in Tanzania a preferred species for building material and fence posts. In northern Kenya pegs made from the heartwood are used to climb baobabs to gain access to bee hives, and to peg down hides while curing and drying. Bee hives are hung in the larger trees . The foliage is browsed by giraffe. Its gum is collected in Tanzania, it has a positive optical rotation, opposite to A. senegal gum, and is used as a glue (Wickens et al. 1995).

Interesting Facts

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Common Names

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Common Names in English:

Whistling Thorn

Description

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Subfamily Mimosoideae

Mostly trees or shrubs . Leaves mostly bipinnate. Corolla usually not showy, actinomorphic , sympetalous , the lobes valvate . Stamens 10-numerous, often monadelphous , showy. Pollen released in monads , tetrads , or polyads . Seeds with u-shaped line (pleurogram) present. [Carr]

Genus Acacia

Trees , shrubs , rarely herbs, often prickly or spinose . Leaves bipinnate; leaflets small and numerous or leaves reduced to phyllodes; petiolar glands often present; stipules generally spinescent . Inflorescence cylindric spike or globose head ; peduncle solitary axillary or fasciculate or paniculate at the end of branches; bracts often two, scale like, situated on the peduncle at various levels. Flowers small, 3-5-merous, bisexual or plants polygamous. Calyx campanulate , dentate , lobed or polysepalous . Petals usually more or less united , rarely absent. Stamens indefinite, free or shortly and irregularly connate at the base ; anthers small, eglandular . Ovary sessile or stipitate , with 2 or more ovules. Fruit ovate to linear , straight, arcuate or contorted, membranous to woody, rarely articulated or moniliform . Seed large, with a filiform funicle or fleshy aril.

A genus with about 900 species; distributed mainly in tropics and subtropics, especially in Africa and Australia.[1]

Physical Description

Species Acacia drepanolobium

Shrub or tree to 8 m tall, this species can be found as slender tree or a small dense shrub, often maintained by browsing or severe fires. Has long spines with some bases developing into swollen pseudo galls, which often have colonies of ants living in them. Like the other pseudo gall Acacias it is often found on black cotton clay soilsor hard pan grey soils in shrub and dwarf tree grassland. Gregarious often forming large communities on overgrazed land.

Habit: Shrub , Tree • Climbing: Not Climbing

Flowers: Flower Color: yellow

Size/Age/Growth

Size: 12-15' tall.

Habitat

Typically found at an altitude of 0 to 1,596 meters (0 to 5,236 feet).[2]

Biology

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Reproduction

Duration: Perennial

Growth

Culture: Space 15-20' apart.

Sunlight: Sun Exposure: Full sun .

Moisture: Drought Tolerance: High

Temperature: Cold Hardiness: 10a, 10b, 11. (map)

Taxonomy

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Synonyms

Acacia formicarum Harms • Acacia lathouwersii Staner

Notes

Name Status: Accepted Name .

Comment: Climbing : Not climbing, Conservation Status: Not Threatened, Habit: Shrub , Habit: Tree , Lifespan: Perennial

Last scrutiny: 1994

Similar Species

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Members of the genus Acacia

ZipcodeZoo has pages for 497 species, subspecies, varieties, forms, and cultivars in this genus. Here are just 100 of them:

A. abyssinica (Nyanga Flat-Top) · A. acanthoclada (Harrow Wattle) · A. acanthoclada var. glaucescens (Harrow Wattle) · A. acinacea (Gold Dust Wattle) · A. aculeaticarpa (Catclaw Mimosa) · A. aculeatissima (Thin-Leaf Wattle) · A. acuminata (Raspberry Jam) · A. acuminata acuminata (Raspberry Jam) · A. adunca (Wallangarra Wattle) · A. alata (Winged Wattle) · A. albicorticata (Aromo) · A. albizioides (Climbing Wattle) · A. alpina (Alpine Wattle) · A. amblygona (Fan Wattle) · A. amoena (Boomerang Wattle) · A. ampliceps (Acacia) · A. ancistrophylla var. lissophylla (Dwarf Myall) · A. anegadensis (Blackbrush Wattle) · A. aneura (Mulga) · A. angustissima (Carboncillo) · A. angustissima var. angustissima (Prairie Acacia) · A. angustissima var. chisosiana (Carboncillo) · A. angustissima var. hirta (Prairie Acacia) · A. angustissima var. shrevei (Carboncillo) · A. angustissima var. suffrutescens (Carboncillo) · A. angustissima var. texensis (Carboncillo) · A. anomala (Chittering Grass Wattle) · A. anthochaera (Kimberly's Wattle) · A. aphylla (Leafless Rock Wattle) · A. applanata (Grass Wattle) · A. araneosa (Balcanoona Wattle) · A. argutifolia (East Barrens Wattle) · A. argyrodendron (Blackwood) · A. argyrophylla (Silver Mulga) · A. aroma (Aromita) · A. aroma var. huarango (Aromita) · A. aspera (Rough Wattle) · A. atramentaria (Brea) · A. aulacocarpa (New Guinea Wattle) · A. auricoma (Nyalpilintji Wattle) · A. auriculiformis (Auri) · A. auripila (Rudall River Myall) · A. ausfeldii (Whipstick Cinnamon Wattle) · A. baeuerlenii (Wattle Shrub) · A. baileyana (Bailey Acacia) · A. baileyana 'Purpurea' (Baileys Purple Acacia) · A. bakeri (Baker's Wattle) · A. balsamea (Balsam Wattle) · A. barakulensis (Waaje Wattle) · A. barattensis (Baratta Wattle) · A. barringtonensis (Barrington Wattle) · A. basedowii (Basedow's Wattle) · A. baueri (Tiny Wattle) · A. baxteri (Baxter's Wattle) · A. beckleri (Barrier Range Wattle) · A. berlandieri (Berlandier Acacia) · A. betchei (Red-Tip Wattle) · A. bidwillii (Corkwood Wattle) · A. biflora (Two-Flowered Acacia) · A. binervata (Two-Veined Hickory) · A. binervia (Coast Myall) · A. bivenosa (Two Nerved Wattle) · A. blaxellii (Blaxell's Wattle) · A. boormanii (Snowy River Wattle) · A. borleae (Sticky Acacia) · A. brachybotrya (Grey Mulga) · A. brevispica dregeana (Prickly Thorn) · A. browniana (Brown's Wattle) · A. brownii (Heath Wattle) · A. brunioides (Brown Wattle) · A. burbidgeae (Burbidge's Wattle) · A. burrowii (Burrow's Wattle) · A. buxifolia (Box-Leaved Wattle) · A. buxifolia buxifolia (Box-Leaved Wattle) · A. buxifolia pubiflora (Box-Leaved Wattle) · A. bynoeana (Bynoe's Wattle) · A. caerulescens (Buchan Blue Wattle) · A. caesiella (Blue Bush) · A. caffra (Cat Thorn) · A. calamifolia (Wallowa) · A. calcicola (Northern Myall) · A. cambagei (Stinking Wattle) · A. cana (Broad-Leaved Nealie) · A. cardiophylla (West Wyalong Wattle) · A. carneorum (Purple-Wood Wattle) · A. catechu (Black Cutch) · A. catechu var. oligosperma (Black Catechu) · A. catechu var. sundra (Cutch Tree) · A. caven (Aromita) · A. caven var. caven (Roman-Cassie) · A. celastrifolia (Celastrus-Leaved Acacia) · A. centralis (Guache) · A. chalkeri (Chalker's Wattle) · A. cheelii (Motherumbah) · A. chinchillensis (Chinchilla Wattle) · A. chippendalei (Chippendale's Wattle) · A. chisholmii (Chisholm's Wattle) · A. choriophylla (Cinnecord) · A. chundra (Red Cutch) · A. citrinoviridis (River Jam)

More Info

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Further Reading

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Notes

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Contributors

Data Sources

Accessed through GBIF Data Portal January 27, 2008:

Identifiers

Footnotes

  1. "Acacia". in Flora of Pakistan. Published by Science Press (Beijing) and Missouri Botanical Garden Press. Online at EFloras.org. [back]
  2. Mean = 1,232.320 meters (4,043.045 feet), Standard Deviation = 396.400 based on 19 observations. Altitude information for each observation from British Oceanographic Data Centre. [back]
Last Revised: 7/19/2012