Vachellia tortilis(Forssk.) Galasso & Banfi

Umbrella thornumbrella thorn

WFO wfo-0001285358 Accepted WFO 2026-06 8 photographs CC BY / CC BY-SA

Plate 1 figs. a–h · 8 separate observations

Vachellia tortilis, photographed by Robert Taylor
fig. a Robert Taylor, CC BY 4.0 / 2022-04-30 / obs. 192122199
Vachellia tortilis, photographed by Sunčana Bradley
fig. b Sunčana Bradley, CC BY 4.0 / obs. 180919397
Vachellia tortilis, photographed by Sunčana Bradley
fig. c Sunčana Bradley, CC BY 4.0 / obs. 180919473
Vachellia tortilis, photographed by Margaret Burger
fig. d Margaret Burger, CC BY-SA 4.0 / obs. 136018535
Vachellia tortilis, photographed by Rosemary Harrison
fig. e Rosemary Harrison, CC BY-SA 4.0 / obs. 136229583
Vachellia tortilis, photographed by Tony Rebelo
fig. f Tony Rebelo, CC BY-SA 4.0 / obs. 139715162
Vachellia tortilis, photographed by Tony Rebelo
fig. g Tony Rebelo, CC BY-SA 4.0 / obs. 139068854
Vachellia tortilis, photographed by Tony Rebelo
fig. h Tony Rebelo, CC BY-SA 4.0 / obs. 137972707

Every figure is a research-grade observation under CC0, CC BY or CC BY-SA, rehosted with the photographer’s name, the licence and the observation it came from. Photographs under a NonCommercial licence are excluded from this site and are never stored, which costs us a great many pictures and is not negotiable.

Native range 42 botanical countries

Regions where Vachellia tortilis is native: Algeria, Angola, Botswana, Burkina, Cape Provinces, Caprivi Strip, Chad, Djibouti, Egypt, Eritrea, Eswatini, Ethiopia, Free State, Kenya, KwaZulu-Natal, Libya, Malawi, Mali, Mauritania, Morocco, Mozambique, Namibia, Niger, Nigeria, Northern Provinces, Senegal, Socotra, Somalia, Sudan-South Sudan, Tanzania, Tunisia, Uganda, Western Sahara, Zambia, Zimbabwe, Gulf States, Lebanon-Syria, Oman, Palestine, Saudi Arabia, Sinai, Yemen AlgeriaAngolaBotswanaBurkinaCape ProvincesCaprivi StripChadDjiboutiEgyptEritreaEswatiniEthiopiaFree StateKenyaKwaZulu-NatalLibyaMalawiMaliMauritaniaMoroccoMozambiqueNamibiaNigerNigeriaNorthern ProvincesSenegalSomaliaSudan-South SudanTanzaniaTunisiaUgandaWestern SaharaZambiaZimbabweGulf StatesLebanon-SyriaOmanPalestineSaudi ArabiaSinaiYemen
Native distribution of Vachellia tortilis, after Kew’s World Checklist of Vascular Plants. Introduced, extinct and doubtful records are excluded, so this is where the plant is from, not everywhere it now grows.
RegionTDWG codeContinent
Algeria ALG AFRICA
Angola ANG
Botswana BOT
Burkina BKN
Cape Provinces CPP
Caprivi Strip CPV
Chad CHA
Djibouti DJI
Egypt EGY
Eritrea ERI
Eswatini SWZ
Ethiopia ETH
Free State OFS
Kenya KEN
KwaZulu-Natal NAT
Libya LBY
Malawi MLW
Mali MLI
Mauritania MTN
Morocco MOR
Mozambique MOZ
Namibia NAM
Niger NGR
Nigeria NGA
Northern Provinces TVL
Senegal SEN
Socotra SOC
Somalia SOM
Sudan-South Sudan SUD
Tanzania TAN
Tunisia TUN
Uganda UGA
Western Sahara WSA
Zambia ZAM
Zimbabwe ZIM
Gulf States GST ASIA-TEMPERATE
Lebanon-Syria LBS
Oman OMA
Palestine PAL
Saudi Arabia SAU
Sinai SIN
Yemen YEM

Not drawn on the map: Socotra. We hold no public-domain boundary for this region, so it is listed rather than guessed at.

Region boundaries approximated from Natural Earth (public domain) and mapped to TDWG World Geographical Scheme for Recording Plant Distributions (WGSRPD) level-3 botanical countries (Brummitt 2001). Indicative, not the official WGSRPD geometry.

Flowering 42 in flower of 270 examined

Peak flowering in Nov. Each bar is the share of Vachellia tortilis observations in which someone actually recorded the reproductive state and found the plant in flower, not the raw number of flowering records. That distinction matters: people observe plants far more in spring than in winter, so a bare count of flowering records partly measures when people go outside. Dividing by the number examined removes that. 42 of 270 examined observations were in flower, every one of them research grade. The whisker on each bar is a 95% Wilson interval. This is still a global aggregate and not a forecast for your garden: the same species flowers on different dates in different hemispheres. Where a species has fewer than 30 flowering records we do not draw this chart at all. Computed from 10.15468/dl.cgje2x.

Also published as 34 synonyms

A synonym is not an error. It is a record of botanists disagreeing, in print, about where this plant belongs. Each of these was somebody’s considered answer.

  • Acacia campoptila Schweinf.
  • Acacia fasciculata Guill. & Perr.
  • Acacia fasciculata var. pubescens (A.Chev.) A.Chev.
  • Acacia gummifera (Forssk.) Delile
  • Acacia heteracantha Burch.
  • Acacia litakunensis Burch.
  • Acacia maras Engl.
  • Acacia pappii Gand.
  • Acacia perrottetii Steud.
  • Acacia raddiana Savi
  • Acacia raddiana var. pubescens (A.Chev.) A.F.Hill
  • Acacia spirocarpa Hochst. ex A.Rich.
  • Acacia spirocarpa f. pubescens A.Terracc.
  • Acacia spirocarpa var. major Schweinf.
  • Acacia spirocarpa var. minor Schweinf.
  • Acacia spirocarpoides Engl.
  • Acacia tortilis (Forssk.) Hayne
  • Acacia tortilis f. raddiana (Savi) Roberty
  • Acacia tortilis f. spirocarpa (Hochst. ex A.Rich.) Roberty
  • Acacia tortilis subsp. campoptila (Schweinf.) Boulos
  • Acacia tortilis subsp. heteracantha (Burch.) Brenan
  • Acacia tortilis subsp. raddiana (Savi) Brenan
  • Acacia tortilis subsp. spirocarpa (Hochst. ex A.Rich.) Brenan
  • Acacia tortilis subsp. tortilis

and 10 more.

Sourcesevery claim on this page

  1. World Flora Online Plant List. accepted name, authority, classification. CC0. Retrieved 2026-07-12.
  2. iNaturalist. photographs and flowering annotations, CC0 / CC BY / CC BY-SA only. per photograph. Retrieved 2026-06-27.
  3. Wikidata. common name (P1843), joined on the World Flora Online identifier (P7715). CC0. Retrieved 2026-07-13.
  4. Kew, World Checklist of Vascular Plants (WCVP v16). native distribution by TDWG level-3 botanical country, and life form. CC BY 3.0. Retrieved 2026-06-04.

We publish what we can source and we say so when we cannot. This page has no care advice and no toxicity claim, because we do not yet have those from a source we can cite.