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Vachellia nilotica
Also called Arabic Gumtree, Egyptian Acacia, Indian Gum Arabic Tree, Babul Acacia, Black Babul, Prickly Acacia, Scentedthorn
Vachellia nilotica is a spiny, drought-tolerant flowering tree of the pea family that grows 5 to 20 m tall with a dense rounded crown and golden pom-pom flowers. It is grown mainly as a hardy tree in dry climates, and it is a source of gum arabic.
Vachellia nilotica, more commonly known as Acacia nilotica, and by the vernacular names of gum arabic tree, babul, thorn mimosa, Egyptian acacia or thorny acacia, is a flowering tree in the family Fabaceae. It is native to Africa, the Middle East and the Indian subcontinent.
Two new antiprotozoal diterpenes have been isolated from the root bark of Acacia nilotica.
Acacia nilotica or Vachellia nilotica is native to Egypt, across the Maghreb and Sahel, south to Mozambique and KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa, and east through the Arabian Peninsula to the Indian subcontinent and Burma. It has become widely naturalised outside its native range including Zanzibar and Australia. It is spread by livestock.
Vachellia leucophloea · Vachellia nilotica subsp. hemispherica · Vachellia schaffneri · Vachellia tortilis · Vachellia xanthophloea · Roman Cassie · Bullhorn Wattle · Camel thorn · Sweet Acacia · Robber Thorn · Sweet Thorn · Babul
Text excerpted from the Wikipedia article Vachellia nilotica 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.
Life form, climate and native range: World Checklist of Vascular Plants, Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew (CC BY 3.0), reformatted; see Plants of the World Online.
