Flame acacia, Flame thorn
Senegalia ataxacantha

Family: Fabaceae

What it is like

A climber or straggling herb. It is usually thorny. It has several stems. It forms thickets. It can be a small tree to 10 m high. The branches are flexible. It loses its leaves during the year. The leaves have 10-25 pairs of leaf stalks each with 14-62 pairs of leaflets. The leaflets are 2-5 mm long by 0.5-1.5 mm wide. The flowers are creamy white in spikes 10 cm long. The fruit are young pods which are red then turn brown. They are slender and 20 cm long by 2.4 cm wide. They taper at both ends.

There are about 1,350 Acacia species. Over 1,000 occur in Australia. Also as Mimosaceae.

Where it is found

It is a tropical plant. It grows among sand dunes and in open wooded grassland. It grows in hot arid areas. It can probably tolerate frost when it has shed its leaves. It grows in acid soils. It grows in areas with an annual rainfall between 200-1,200 mm. It grows between 100-1,980 m above sea level. It can grow in arid places. It grows in the Sahel.

Countries/locations it is found in

Africa, Angola, Benin, Botswana, Burkina Faso, Cameroon, Central Africa, Central African Republic, CAR, Chad, Côte d'Ivoire, East Africa, Eswatini, Ghana, Guinea, Guinée, Guinea-Bissau, Ivory Coast, Kenya, Liberia, Malawi, Mali, Mauritania, Mozambique, Namibia, Niger, Nigeria, Sahel, Senegal, Sierra Leone, South Africa, Southern Africa, Sudan, Swaziland, Tanzania, Togo, Uganda, West Africa, Zambia, Zimbabwe

How it is used for food

The gum is occasionally eaten.

Probably minor.

Edible parts

Gum

How it is grown

Its other names

Local names

Karau, Kwandari, Kwandariya, Lugagane, M'furura, Mogokatau, Mokgwa, Mokona, Mokukum Muchanga, Mugowa, Mukakanyuri, Mukakanyuro, Mooka-tau, Mukombokunono, Olejo, Orueyo, Ulutatu, Umbambangwe, Umgamba, Umqaqwem, Uthathawu

Synonyms

Acacia ataxacantha DC.; Acacia eriandenia Benth.; Acacia lugardiae N. E. Br.;