Vachellia tortuosa(L.) Seigler & Ebinger

HuisachilloPoponaxTwisted acacia

WFO wfo-0001277461 Accepted WFO 2026-06 8 photographs CC0 / CC BY / CC BY-SA

Plate 1 figs. a–h · 8 separate observations

Vachellia tortuosa, photographed by Andra Waagmeester
fig. a Andra Waagmeester, CC0 1.0 / 2021-11-06 / obs. 167796485
Vachellia tortuosa, photographed by Jean-Paul Boerekamps
fig. b Jean-Paul Boerekamps, CC0 1.0 / obs. 123162218
Vachellia tortuosa, photographed by Daniel Cahen
fig. c Daniel Cahen, CC BY 4.0 / obs. 61239386
Vachellia tortuosa, photographed by Keith Seifert
fig. d Keith Seifert, CC BY-SA 4.0 / obs. 60500839
Vachellia tortuosa, photographed by Eric Knight
fig. e Eric Knight, CC BY 4.0 / obs. 47191904
Vachellia tortuosa, photographed by Maura
fig. f Maura, CC BY 4.0 / obs. 42821319
Vachellia tortuosa, photographed by dariapi
fig. g dariapi, CC BY 4.0 / obs. 65176671
Vachellia tortuosa, photographed by Will Sides
fig. h Will Sides, CC BY 4.0 / obs. 189145633

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 17 botanical countries

Regions where Vachellia tortuosa is native: Aruba, Bahamas, Colombia, Cuba, Dominican Republic, Ecuador, Galápagos, Haiti, Jamaica, Leeward Is., Netherlands Antilles, Peru, Puerto Rico, Turks-Caicos Is., Venezuela, Venezuelan Antilles, Windward Is. ColombiaCubaDominican RepublicEcuadorHaitiJamaicaPeruPuerto RicoVenezuela ArubaBahamasGalápagosLeeward Is.Netherlands AntillesTurks-Caicos Is.Venezuelan AntillesWindward Is.
Native distribution of Vachellia tortuosa, 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. Regions too small to draw at this scale are marked with a dot.
RegionTDWG codeContinent
Aruba ARU SOUTHERN AMERICA
Bahamas BAH
Colombia CLM
Cuba CUB
Dominican Republic DOM
Ecuador ECU
Galápagos GAL
Haiti HAI
Jamaica JAM
Leeward Is. LEE
Netherlands Antilles NLA
Peru PER
Puerto Rico PUE
Turks-Caicos Is. TCI
Venezuela VEN
Venezuelan Antilles VNA
Windward Is. WIN

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.

Also published as 12 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 albescens Steud.
  • Acacia albida Lindl.
  • Acacia leucacantha Bertero ex Spreng.
  • Acacia seifriziana León
  • Acacia tortuosa (L.) Willd.
  • Acacia virescens DC.
  • Mimosa salinarum Rohr ex Benth.
  • Mimosa tortuosa L.
  • Mimosa virescens (DC.) Poir.
  • Poponax tortuosa (L.) Raf.
  • Poponax venosa Britton
  • Prosopis microphylla Kunth

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.