Africa Wild

Index to Trees & Shrubs in the Order Fabales

Family: Fabaceae (Pea Family)
The family includes three subfamilies: Mimosoideae, Caesalpinioideae, Faboideae (Papilionoideae).

Subfamily: Mimosoideae
148. Albizia adianthifolia Flat-crown Albizia viewtopic.php?p=204678#p204678
150. Albizia anthelmintica Cherry-blossom Tree, Worm-bark False-thorn viewtopic.php?f=248&t=3752&p=171780#p171780
190. Dichrostachys cinerea Sickle-bush viewtopic.php?f=248&t=3752&p=171780#p171782
193. Elephantorrhiza burkei Sumach Bean, Broad-pod Elephant Root viewtopic.php?p=296125#p296125
159. Faidherbia albida, Acacia albida Ana Tree viewtopic.php?f=248&t=3752&p=170791#p171784
X503. Prosopis glandulosa Mesquite, Honey Mesquite viewtopic.php?p=261326#p261326
164. Senegalia erubescens, Acacia erubescens Blue Thorn Acacia, Yellow-bark Acacia viewtopic.php?p=223033#p223033
176. Senegalia mellifera, Acacia mellifera Black Thorn Acacia viewtopic.php?p=225224#p225224
178. Senegalia nigrescens, Acacia nigrescens Knob Thorn Acacia viewtopic.php?p=171786#p171786
168. Vachellia erioloba, Acacia erioloba Camelthorn Tree viewtopic.php?p=171787#p171787
164.1 Vachellia exuvialis, Acacia exuvialis Flaky-bark Thorn, Flaky-bark Acacia viewtopic.php?p=193110#p193110
169. Vachellia haematoxylon, Acacia haematoxylon Grey Camel Thorn, Giraffe Thorn viewtopic.php?p=171789#p171789
179. Vachellia nilotica, Acacia nilotica Scented-pod Acacia, Scented Thorn viewtopic.php?p=171790#p171790
183. Vachellia robusta, Acacia robusta Robust Acacia, Brack Thorn, Ankle Thorn viewtopic.php?p=171792#p171792
187. Vachellia sieberiana, Acacia sieberiana Paperbark Thorn viewtopic.php?f=248&t=3752&p=171794#p171794
188. Vachellia tortilis, Acacia tortilis Umbrella Thorn, Curly-pod Acacia viewtopic.php?f=248&t=3752&p=171795#p171795
189. Vachellia xanthophloea, Acacia xanthophloea Fever Tree viewtopic.php?f=248&p=171796#p171796

Subfamily: Caesalpinioideae (Bauhinia Subfamily or Pea Family)
208. Adenolobus garipensis Butterfly-leaf, Blue Neat's Foot viewtopic.php?f=248&t=3752&p=171802#p171802
207. Afzelia quanzensis Pod Mahogany viewtopic.php?f=248&p=171922#p171922
208.2 Bauhinia galpinii Pride of De Kaap, Pride-of-the-Cape, Bauhinia viewtopic.php?f=248&p=171923#p171923
197. Burkea africana Wild Syringa viewtopic.php?p=261625#p261625
212. Cassia abbreviata Long-Tail Cassia, Sjambok Pod viewtopic.php?f=248&t=3752&p=171926#p171926
198. Colophospermum mopane Mopane Tree, Mopani Tree viewtopic.php?f=248&t=3752&p=171929#p171929
X545. Delonix regia Royal Poinciana, Flamboyant Tree viewtopic.php?f=248&t=3752&p=171934#p171934
196. Erythrophleum lasianthum Swazi Ordeal Tree viewtopic.php?p=224234#p224234
215. Peltophorum africanum African Weeping-Wattle viewtopic.php?f=248&t=3752&p=171940#p171940
201. Schotia afra Karoo Boer-bean viewtopic.php?f=248&t=3752&p=171941#p171941
202. Schotia brachypetala Weeping Boer-bean viewtopic.php?f=248&t=3752&p=171944#p171944
213. Senna petersiana Eared Senna, Monkey Pod viewtopic.php?p=527309#p527309

Subfamily: Faboideae
222. Bolusanthus speciosus Tree Wisteria viewtopic.php?f=248&p=171947#p171947
216. Cordyla africana Wild Mango, Sunbird Tree viewtopic.php?f=248&t=306&p=178788#p178788
232. Dalbergia melanoxylon Zebrawood, African Blackwood viewtopic.php?p=230594#p230594
243.1 Erythrina humeana Dwarf Coral Tree, Small Kaffir Tree viewtopic.php?f=248&p=171947#p171952
245. Erythrina lysistemon Common Coral Tree viewtopic.php?f=248&p=171947#p171953
238. Philenoptera violacea Apple-leaf viewtopic.php?f=248&t=3752&p=171956#p171956
236. Pterocarpus angolensis Bloodwood, Kiaat, Wild Teak viewtopic.php?f=248&t=3752&p=171959#p171959
241. Xanthocercis zambesiaca Nyala Tree viewtopic.php?f=248&t=3752&p=171964#p171964

150. Cherry-blossom Tree, Worm-bark False-thorn Albizia anthelmintica (Wurmbasfalsedoring)
Order: Fabales. Family: Fabaceae. Subfamily: Mimosoideae






Kruger National Park, S 52 (Redrocks Loop)

Description
Albizia anthelmintica is a thorny/spiny, deciduous, multi-stemmed (often branching near ground level), medium canopied tree or shrub, growing to about 8 m. Bark smooth, gray to brown. Branchlets often spine-tipped. Young branchlets glabrous or sometimes shortly pubescent. Leaves bipinnate in 1-5 pairs, leaflets opposite, 7-36 mm long, 6-31 mm wide, apex mucronate. Flowers in fluffy, semi-spherical heads, creamy-white, appearing before the leaves. Flowers usually on leafless twigs, pedicels 0.5-5.5 mm long. Calyx pale greenish, 3-5 mm long. Corolla pale green 6-12 mm long, glabrous, staminal filaments white, about 1.5-2 cm long. Fruit a flattened pod, 7-18 cm long, 1.5-2.9 cm wide, pale brown or straw colored, papery and pointed. Seeds round and flattened, 6-8 per pod, 9-13 mm in diameter.

Distribution
Tropical Africa to Namibia, Mozambique, Swaziland, South Africa (Provincial distribution: KwaZulu-Natal, Limpopo, Mpumalanga, Northern Cape, North West).

Habitat
In dry open woodland, dry scrub, Sandforest.

Links: Braam Van Wyk, Piet Van Wyk: Field Guide to Trees of Southern Africa

190. Sickle-bush Dichrostachys cinerea
Order: Fabales. Family: Fabaceae, Subfamily: Mimosoideae


Botswana

Kruger National Park, Dec 2020 © Roger Fraser
The flowers are found in pendulous, cylindrical bicoloured Spikes (simple indeterminate inflorescence with sessile flowers on a single unbranched stalk) up to 8cm long. The flowers closest to the stem are infertile, pinkish-mauve or white and have protruding Staminodes (sterile stamens). This colour varies even on the same tree. The flowers at the end of the hanging spike are bisexual and bright yellow.


© Flutterby
Kruger National Park, on the S128 near Lower Sabie

© Super Mongoose
Marakele National Park

Description
It is one of the trees that has a distinct flower seen from spring to summer.
Dichrostachys cinerea is a spiny, deciduous shrub or small tree, up to 7 m high, with a rounded crown, 3 m wide. The bark is rough, yellow to grey-brown and frequently fissured and the stem is rarely thicker than 230 mm. The twice-compound, petiolate leaves are very variable in size with 4 to 19 pairs of pinnae and each pinna with 9 to 41 pairs of leaflets, giving it an Acacia-like appearance. The petioles (leaf stalks) are up to 50 mm long and the leaf length varies between 10 and 160 mm. The young twigs are slightly hairy and a characteristic feature is that the spines are not modified stipules but hardened branchlets, ending in a straight, sharp point.
The flowers are 25 to 50 mm long, pendulous spikes that are borne in the leaf axils, singly or in bundles. The pleasant-smelling fluffy flowers are lilac in the upper half and yellow in the lower. Its flowering season is spring, generally from September to February.
Each flower produces a mass of flat, coiled green pods that turn brown and later fall to the ground. Each pod contains a large number of seeds; young pods are curved, resembling sickles.

Distribution
Dichrostachys cinerea is widespread throughout Africa. It also occurs in Madagascar, India, Indonesia and Australia.

Habitat
It occurs in a diverse range of habitats and is a conspicuous component of many plant communities. In southern Africa it is very common in the warm, dry savannas. Many disturbed areas have sickle-bush growing as it is a pioneer species, it reclaims old farm lands, road verges etc.

Notes
It is a terrible nuisance for expensive low profile 4x4 tyres.
Various animals enjoy eating the pods, in droughts these pods can provide much needed nutrition.
The fibre in the bark can make twine, but easier going to the hardware store.
Leaves are meant to have local anaesthetic properties, but I would not trust a dentist with them.
Small poles and tool handles, can be made from the tree.
This tree must not to be confused with the African Weeping Wattle, that can be used for toilet paper Peltophorum wipernautum
I repeat the tree is not suitable for toilet paper !

Links: Trees and Shrubs of Mpumalanga and Kruger National Park; PlantZAfrica

© Super Mongoose

© Super Mongoose

© Super Mongoose

© Super Mongoose

© Super Mongoose
Borakalalo Game Reserve, North West Province

159. Ana Tree Faidherbia albida, Acacia albida (Anaboom)
Order: Fabales. Family: Fabaceae. Subfamily: Mimosoideae












Mapungubwe National Park, Limpopo

Description
Faidherbia albida is deciduous and can grow up to 30 m tall.
It has branching stems and an erect to roundish crown. Greenish grey to whitish grey colour and smoothness is evident on the young stems, but grey and smooth to rough on older branches and stems.
The straight, whitish thorns, which are in pairs, are up to 40 mm long.
Pale grey-green leaves which are twice-compound, have a conspicuous gland at the base of each pair of pinnae (leaflets).
Scented, pale cream-coloured flowers form an elongated spike up to 35-160 x 20 mm. The flowers show from March to September, followed by fruit from September to December. The fruit is orange to red-brown in colour, non-splitting and curved to twisted pod. The size of the pods fruit ranges from 100-350 x 20-50 mm.

Distribution
Native to Africa and the Middle East. This tree's distribution is from Israel in the north South Africa in the south (KwaZulu-Natal, Limpopo, Mpumalanga).

Habitat
It grows in waterlogged soils along rivers, swamps, floodplains and dry river courses.

Links: PlantZAfrica

178. Knob Thorn Acacia Senegalia nigrescens, Acacia nigrescens (Knoppiesdoring)
Order: Fabales. Family: Fabaceae. Subfamily: Mimosoideae








Kruger National Park

Description
This upright Acacia has a straight, single trunk that branches high up. When large it has a sparse, round, but relatively narrow canopy.
Smaller Knob-thorns, growing on clay soils, are often stunted and multi-stemmed with a rounded canopy.
Generlly there are woody knobs with thorns on the trunks of young trees, and on young branches of older trees.
Younger branches and trees have pale bark that darkens with age to dark brown. It becomes rough and deeply fissured lengthwise, with yellowish under-bark.
The leaflets are pale green, almost round and have a smooth margin. There are 1-3 feather pairs, each feather consisting of 1-2 pairs of leaflets (Leaf: 35 x 80 mm; leaflet: 10-30 x 8-25 mm).
Flowers a appear before or with the new leaves making the tree very conspicuous. From late June to early July, the tree has a plum-coloured sheen from the developing flower-buds. They open to form a spectacular, creamy-white display from July to September. The sweet-scented flower-spikes grow in clusters of 2 - 3 at the leaf-buds. Flowers are most abundant after good, late summer rains (80-100 mm).
Fruit are dark brown, thinly textured pods borne in pendant (hanging downward) clusters.

Distribution
Knob thorn is a species with a wide distribution range, occurring from Tanzania southwards to KwaZulu-Natal. It is a familiar sight to visitors to the Kruger National Park. Provincial distribution: Gauteng, KwaZulu-Natal, Limpopo, Mpumalanga, North West.

Habitat
It occurs in various savanna regions, often at low altitudes, and in rocky areas, on well drained soil. It is drought- and termite-resistant.
Larger Knob-thorn Acacias grow singly with many scattered trees in the area. They are often near drainage lines and rivers. Smaller, mature Knob-thorns grow in dense groups in clay soils. Large trees are easiest to find in riverine areas, and smaller Knob-thorns are dominant on the clay plains. This tree can also be spotted easily in the granite, gabbro, Ecca shale and basalt areas of the Lowveld and KwaZulu-Natal.

Links: Ernst Schmidt, Mervyn Lotter, Warren McCleland: Trees and Shrubs of Mpumalanga and Kruger National Park; PlantZAfrica; Wild About Trees

© Duke
uMkhuze, Nsumo Pan

© Toko
Swazi bushveld with Knob thorns

© Toko
The thorny knobs are prominent on the trunks of young trees (Swaziland, Hlane Royal National Park)

168. Camelthorn Tree Vachellia erioloba, Acacia erioloba (Kameeldoring)
Order: Fabales. Family: Fabaceae. Subfamily: Mimosoideae

© General Gump
Kgalagadi Transfrontier Park

© Lisbeth
Kgalagadi Transfrontier Park

© Toko

Description
Its name refers to the fact that giraffe (kameelperd in Afrikaans) commonly graze on the hard-to-reach succulent leaves normally out of reach of smaller animals. The camelthorn is easily identified by large, grey, kidney-shaped, seed-carrying pods, which are favoured by a large number of herbivores.
A large, spreading tree, 9-10 (max. 18) m high, branching about 2 m above the ground; occasionally a shrub barely 2 m tall; crown rounded, dense, spreading up to 18 m; branches drooping at the ends; sapwood yellow and the under bark is reddish; bark dark greyish-brown to blackish, rough, fibrous, fissured, often flaking off in thick, woody strips when old; young twigs shiny, purplish or reddish, without hairs, distinctively zigzag shaped; taproots, long.
Leaves with 2-5 pairs of pinnae, each bearing 8-15 pairs of bluish-green leaflets 4-10 x 1-4 mm, remaining conspicuously green in the dry season; thorns dark brown, later grey or whitish, in pairs at the nodes, stout and straight, 1-5 cm long, at right angles to each other and pointing in the opposite direction to the previous pair; base of older thorns often inflated into an enlarged ant-gall 0.5-2 cm wide.
Inflorescence consists of a ball of bright golden yellow, solitary or clustered, fragrant flowers. Pods green, broad, large, 1.3-2.5 cm thick but flattened, spongy within, half-moon shaped, 6-13 x 1.8-6.5 cm, curved through to 90-180 degrees, semi-woody, indehiscent, covered in dense grey hairs and containing hard, brown seeds that lie in several rows; some pods thin, round and long.

© Toko
Seed pods come in different shapes covered in dense grey hairs and containing hard, brown seeds that lie in several rows, some are broad and large, thick but flattened, some are half-moon shaped, curved, some pods thin, round and long. The scientific name ‘erioloba’ is Latin for ‘half-moon shaped’, referring to the shape of the pods.

Distribution
Southern Angola, Botswana, Mozambique, Namibia, South Africa (Free State, Limpopo, Northern Cape, North West), western areas of Zambia, Zimbabwe.

Habitat
Native to the drier parts of Southern Africa. Its preferred habitat is deep sandy soils. Savanna, semi-desert and desert areas with deep, sandy soils and along drainage lines in very arid areas, sometimes in rocky outcrops.

Links: Colleen Seymour & Suzanne Milton: A COLLATION AND OVERVIEW OF RESEARCH INFORMATION ON ACACIA ERIOLOBA; Wild About Trees; Braam Van Wyk, Piet Van Wyk: Field Guide to Trees of Southern Africa

169. Grey Camel Thorn, Giraffe Thorn Vachellia haematoxylon, Acacia haematoxylon (Vaalkameeldoring)
Order: Fabales. Family: Fabaceae. Subfamily: Mimosoideae


Kgalagadi Transfrontier Park

Description
It is a shrub or tree 2-10 m in height. It is a most interesting, attractive and graceful plant usually with drooping branches and branchlets. The crown is irregurarly rounded.
The single trunk has stringy, grey to dark brown bark, which has a tendency to flake in long strips.
It is easily recognised by its compact, densely grey-velvety leaves with close ranks of minute leaflets. Leaves have 6 to 22 pair of pinnae, densley covered with fine grey hairs. Leaflets are extremly small, usually 12 to 24 pairs per pinna. Despite being Twice Compound, leaves appear to be Once Compound. This is because the leaflets are so small (less than 1 mm long), and so tightly packed together, that they appear to be joined.
The paired, straight thorns are creamy white and needle-like, slender, not inflated.
Flowers in globose heads, golden yellow flower-balls usually occur in summer, and are single or in groups of up to 4 (Nov–Jan) (10 mm in diam.).
Pods woody, velvety grey, 6-14 mm wide, slightly curved, sometimes twisted pods are constricted between the seeds (Jan – Sep) (up to 150 mm long; 10–15 mm wide)

Distribution
Vachellia haematoxylon is distributed in southern Africa and found specifically in Namibia and into South Africa as far as the Cape region.

Habitat
A prototypical ecoregion of occurrence is the Kalahari xeric savanna, where it may occur with V. erioloba and Boscia albitrunca. Usually on deep Kalahari sands between dunes or along dry river beds.

Links: Braam Van Wyk, Piet Van Wyk: Field Guide to Trees of Southern Africa; Wild About Trees

179. Scented-pod Acacia, Scented Thorn Vachellia nilotica, Acacia nilotica (Lekkerruikpeul)
Order: Fabales. Family: Fabaceae. Subfamily: Mimosoideae






Tembe Elephant Park, KwaZulu-Natal

© mposthumus

© mposthumus
Kruger National Park, around Pretoriuskop

Description
A medium to large tree that can reach a height of 10 m, with an average of 4-7 m in height. Single-stemmed. The crown is flattened or rounded, with a moderate density, often with a spiky outline. The branches have a tendency to droop downwards if the crown is roundish. The bark is blackish grey or dark brown in mature trees and deeply grooved, with longitudinal fissures. The young branches are smooth and grey to brown in colour. The young twigs are covered in short hairs. Paired, slender, straight spines grow from a single base and sometimes curve backwards, are up to 80 mm long and whitish but often reddish brown in colour.
The leaves are twice compound, i.e. they consist of 5-11 feather-like pairs of pinnae; each pinna is further divided into 7-25 pairs of small, elliptic leaflets that can be bottle to bright green in colour. The leaf stalks are heavy. Very small glands, almost not noticeable with the naked eye, can be found at the base of most of the upper pinnae pairs.
It bears single to several, bright, golden yellow, globose, scented inflorescences between the leaves. The flower stalks are hairy. It flowers mainly from September-January, but it depends on the rainy season. The bumpy pods are very characteristic, resembling a beaded necklace. 80-170 mm. The pods are flat, straight or slightly curved, and fleshy when young with reddish hairs, becoming dark blackish when mature, deeply constricted between each seed and they do not split open, but break up transversely on the ground into single-seeded segments during March to September. The pods are sweetly scented when crushed and contain a sticky fluid.

Distribution
Vachellia nilotica ssp. kraussiana occurs in Angola, Botswana, Tanzania, Malawi, Mozambique, Zambia, Zimbabwe and Limpopo, Mpumalanga, KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa, in large areas of KwaZulu-Natal, Swaziland, eastern and northern Mpumalanga, the northern part of Gauteng, throughout Limpopo and the northeastern part of the North-West.

Habitat
This tree occurs in a variety of woodland types, thickts, wooded grassland and scrub escarpment, rocky outcrops, forests and low-lying forest, in deep soil and along rivers.

183. Robust Acacia, Brack Thorn, Ankle Thorn Vachellia robusta, Acacia robusta
Order: Fabales. Family: Fabaceae. Subfamily: Mimosoideae









Description
This is an upright, often huge Acacia with striking, dark green, feathery foliage. Branches remain thick, even towards their extremities.
The bark is dark grey, but paler on the younger branches. It is closely grooved lengthways.
The branchlets and twigs have two features that make them even more distinctive in the winter. They have conspicuous, dark, prickly, cushion-like thickenings at the base of straight, pale thorns, and the twigs tend to zigzag at these same points, giving the canopy a characteristic spikey outline.
The Twice Compound leaves tend to be very tightly arranged around the thick branchlets, forming a green sleeve. Leaflets grow at an acute angle and tend to look half-closed. Leaves have 2 - 6 feather pairs, each consisting of 10 - 25 pairs of leaflets (Leaf: 45 - 90 mm; leaflet: 7 - 12 x 3 - 4 mm).
The flower-balls are creamy-white and can be seen very early in spring. Conspicuous groups of up to 25 flowers grow between the new green leaves (Jul - Oct) (15 - 20 mm).
The straight, white, paired thorns are joined at a base that may be swollen. Thorns are sometimes under-developed (70 - 110 mm).
The pods are thick and slightly sickle-shaped and hang from the tree in large conspicuous bunches from January to August. The dark brown pods are rounded at the tip. They burst open on the tree when ripe, and may be seen on the tree for long periods (130 x 20 mm).

Distribution
Botswana, Zimbabwe, southern Mozambique, Malawi, southern Zambia and South Africa.

Habitat
In low altitude riverine fringes and other areas near water. Robust Acacia occur in higher rainfall areas of the Highveld. This indigenous southern African tree occurs singly or in small, spread-out groups in wooded and exposed rocky slopes. In the more arid west of the Highveld, Robust Acacias are also found on the edges of rivers and streams. Throughout its distribution this tree prefers rocky or riverine reas.









Links: Wild About Trees, Trees and Shrubs of Mpumalanga and Kruger National Park

187. Paperbark Thorn Vachellia sieberiana, Acacia sieberiana (Papierbasdoring)
Order: Fabales. Family: Fabaceae. Subfamily: Mimosoideae




Kruger National Park

Desciption
Medium to large tree, often with a flattened canopy, widely spreading, flat crown (12 m high, 16 m wide) of deep green, feathery foliage (deciduous) and attractive creamy-tan to yellow-brown corky bark, make this an easy tree to identify.
Bark grey, rough and peeling to reveal a yellowish layer underneath.
Thorns paired at the nodes, long, straight and white. Older trees often appear thornless. Leaves compound, large with 8-20 pairs of pinnae; leaflets pale green or yellowish-green.
Flowers in axillary, spherical heads, creamy-white. Pods large, thick and woody, sometimes splitting long after they have fallen and dried. Scented flowers are borne in spring to summer (September to November) and entice insects. Light brown, woody pods are formed from autumn (March) onwards, are cylindrical and thickened (often with velvety hairs).

Distribution
South Africa (Gauteng, KwaZulu-Natal, Limpopo, Mpumalanga), Swaziland, Zimbabwe, northern and eastern Botswana, northern Namibia and tropical Africa north to Ethiopia.

Habitat
In wooded grassland and woodland, on floodplains and along rivers.

Links: Ernst Schmidt, Mervyn Lotter, Warren McCleland: Trees and Shrubs of Mpumalanga and Kruger National Park; Wild About Trees