Acacia polyacantha (Flora of the WAP complex

Acacia polyacantha

Summary ²

Acacia polyacantha, also known as White Thorn is a flowering tree which can grow up to 25m tall. Polyacantha has the meaning "many thorns" in Latin. The tree is native to Africa, India, the Indian Ocean and Asia, but it has also been introduced to the Caribbean.

Diagnostic ³

"Trees, to 15 m high, bark yellowish-grey, peels off in thin papery flakes; blaze pink red; branchlets yellow-pubescent; stipular spines infra-axillary, 8-10 mm long, paired, straight or hooked, occasionally lacking on flowering branches. Leaves paripinnate, alternate; rachis 4-20 cm long, slender, pubescent, softly prickled, pulvinate; a gland at the base on upper side; pinnae 15-25 pairs, 4-5 cm long, slender, pubescent; glands between uppermost 4 pairs; leaflets 30-50, opposite, sessile; lamina 5-7 × 0.5-1 mm, densely pubescent, chartaceous, base truncate, apex subacute or obtuse, margin ciliate; midrib near distal margin, lateral nerves and intercostae obscure. Flowers bisexual, 4 mm across, white, in axillary solitary or paired spikes, to 8 cm; peduncle to 1 cm; bracts to 6 mm; bracteoles cauducous; calyx 5-lobed, to 1.5 mm, tomentose; corolla to 3 mm long; lobes 5; stamens many, to 4 mm, basally connate; ovary stipitate, oblong, to 1 mm; style to 4 mm. Fruit a pod, stipitate, 8 ×1.5 cm, glabrous, grey, woody, oblong, base and apex horned; seeds 5-8."