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Faidherbia
Also called Ana Tree, Apple Ring Acacia, Winter Thorn
Faidherbia albida, formerly Acacia albida, is the only species in this genus: a large, thorny, drought-tolerant tree native to Africa and the Middle East. It is grown mainly as a tree for shade, fodder and soil improvement rather than as a houseplant.
Faidherbia is a genus of fabaceous plants containing one species, Faidherbia albida, which was formerly widely included in the genus Acacia as Acacia albida. The species is native to Africa and the Middle East and has also been introduced to Pakistan and India. Common names include apple-ring acacia (their circular, indehiscent seed pods resemble apple rings), white acacia, and winter thorn. The South African name is ana tree.
In Southern Africa, it is absent from most of the territory, avoiding dry, colder and upland areas or areas of winter rainfall, but it does occur in the eastern Caprivi Strip, the northern Okavango basin, the floodplains of the Linyanti, Zambezi and Limpopo rivers, as well as southwards to Gaborone. In Zimbabwe, the tree is absent from the highlands and central plateau, but it does occur in Gonarezhou and southwards to the Kruger Park and adjacent lowveld of western Gaza and southern Maputo provinces. It reaches its southern limit along the Pongola floodplain in Maputaland. In western Namibia, it is present in the Kaokoveld, Damaraland, and the Namib-Naukluft area.
Faidherbia albida is important in the Sahel for raising bees, since its flowers provide bee forage at the close of the rainy season, when most other local plants do not.
Text excerpted from the Wikipedia article Faidherbia by its contributors, under CC BY-SA 4.0; the excerpts and the care summary drawn from them are shared under the same licence.
The care summary was written by AI (Claude, Anthropic) from the sources on this page, with general growing knowledge where they are silent. Check before relying on it.
