Vachellia oerfota (Forssk.) Kyal. & Boatwr.
Mimosa oerfota Forssk., Acacia oerfota (Forssk.) Schweinf.
Eng.: Acacia. Spa.: Acacia. Fre.: Acacia. Ara.: Orfot, laoo.
Shrub or small tree up to 5 m in height, multi-stemmed, spiny, evergreen, hermaphrodite, highly branched from the base, expanded irregularly or umbrella-shaped crown. Branches with greyish-whitish or greyish-green bark, which does not peel. Stipular spines 2-6 cm, paired, recurved, thick, white, sometimes with a brown tip. Leaves c. 3 cm, alternate, bipinnate, with petiole 0.5-1.5 cm, with a gland, petiole and rachis hairy, the latter with 3-6(12) pairs of pinnae —with 1 gland at the insertion of the upper pinnae—, each with (3)5-16 pairs of leaflets 3-6 × 1-1.5 mm, oblong, rounded at the apex, subsessile, hairy or glabrous, green. Inflorescences in spherical capitula, 7-12 mm in diameter, axillary, solitary or in fascicles of up to 4, pedunculate —peduncle up to 1.3 cm, tomentose—, with numerous minute flowers, white or creamy white, sometimes with a pinkish hue. Calyx c. 1.5 mm, with hairy teeth. Corolla c. 3 mm. Stamens numerous. Pod 5-13 cm × 12-15 mm, linear, pendulous, straight, attenuated at the base and mucronate at the tip, not constricted between the seeds, compressed, with longitudinal striations and a discolourous winged margin -wing 1.5-2.5 mm-, brownish or reddish-brown, hairy, dehiscent, with 5-12 seeds. Seeds 7-9 × 4-5 mm, ellipsoid, compressed, greyish-green or an olive green, smooth.
Flowering:
September to March.
Fruiting:
March to July.
Habitat:
It grows alone or in groups, in semidesert environments, more frequent in floodplains and terraces along the valleys of large rivers (Nile).
Distribution:
Eastern Africa (from the extreme SE of Egypt to Tanzania), reaching towards the W to the Ennedi Massif (Chad), and SW Asia up to Afganistan.
Conservation status:
A relatively common and widely distributed species, not considered threatened. Currently, it has not been assessed at a global level in the IUCN Red List of Threatened Species.