Sweet acacia
Vachellia farnesiana
The highly fragrant yellow flowers are harvested to produce 'Cassie', a luxurious essential oil used in French perfumery.
- Scientific name
- Vachellia farnesiana
- Taxonomy
- Plantae › Tracheophyta › Magnoliopsida › Fabales › Fabaceae › Vachellia
- IUCN Red List status
- Least Concern
- Population trend
- stable
- Biome
- desert
- Habitat
- Dry shrublands, savannas, desert grasslands, and disturbed sandy soils.
- Diet
- Autotrophic (Photosynthesis; draws nutrients from nitrogen-fixing root nodules).
- Range
- Southern United States, Mexico, Central America, South America, Northern Australia
- Size
- 3 to 8 meters (10 to 26 feet) tall
- Lifespan
- 25-50 years
- Active
- diurnal
- Threats
- Generally secure; occasionally cleared as brush or threatened by extreme prolonged freezes in northernmost ranges.
- Safe to approach?
- Defensive. This plant is heavily armed with sharp, needle-like thorns. Maintain a safe distance of at least one meter when passing by to avoid snags or punctures. If scratched or punctured by a thorn, wash the wound thoroughly with soap and clean water to prevent bacterial infection.
Vachellia farnesiana , also known as Acacia farnesiana , and previously Mimosa farnesiana , commonly known as sweet acacia , huisache or needle bush , is so named because of the numerous thorns distributed along its branches. The native range of V. farnesiana is uncertain. While the point of origin is Mexico and Central America, the species has a pantropical distribution incorporating northern Australia and southern Asia. It remains unclear whether the extra-American distribution is primarily natural or anthropogenic. It is...
Photo: Todd Boland, CC-BY, via iNaturalist
Plain-text version: /species/f84eaa0d-cf89-41b4-acd2-ec0754bf1da3.md