Acacia oerfota (Forssk.) Schweinf.

Leguminosae

Synonyms

• Acacia nubica Benth.
• Acacia orfata Auct.
• Acacia merkeri Harms, 
• Acacia virchoviana Vatke

Common name

Acacia

Description

Small shrubs 1-2 m tall with a flattened top, hence triangular funnel-shaped in vertical profile, with numerous grey branches starting from soil surface ; spines straight, ca. 2 cm long, hard, white with a brown tip, grouped in pairs on a strong basal peduncle. Leaves ca 3 cm long, with 3-12 pairs of pinnae having 5-15 pairs of leaflets each. Flowers whitish, very fragrant, clustered in balls of 1-3 in the axil of spines on a short peduncle not exceeding 1.3 cm. Pods flat elongated-ellipsoid in shape acute at both ends with a sub-mucronate tip, 5-10 cm long by 1.2-1.3 cm wide. Seeds of an olive-green color, numbering 5-10 per pod.

Habitat

Often found along river valleys and terraces of the Nile and Atbara or along the drainage lines well into the South Sahara (Wadis El Milk and Howar in Darfur and Kordofan, North Rep. of Sudan), or into the Arabian Desert.(Wadis Sirhan and Araba of Jordan), In Kordofan, Rep. of Sudan.

Water

It can be found well below the 100 mm isohyet of MAR.

Soil

It is found on silty alluvial soils.

Distribution

This is an oriental species from Sahelian and Sudanian ecozones of the Rep. of Sudan, to East Africa, and the South Arabia Peninsula to South Iran and South Irak.

Products & uses

It is an important species in the Eastern Sahel and East African arid zones, for goat and camel browse in areas where there is little else to browse on.

Nutritional Quality and Animal Production

According to Dougall and Bogdan (1958), cited by Baumer, leaves have a CP content of 15 % and pods 32 %, of the DM., with .0.23 and 0.44 % P and 1.46 and 1.71 % Ca, respectively. It should be pointed out that leaves have an obnoxious smell which seems to deter browsing when tastier browse is available elswhere (Wickens, pers. comm., 2000).

Pest and diseases

A. oerfota is a conspicuous host of the acacia bagworm Auchmophila kordofensis Rebel (Lepidoptera, Psychidae) (Wickens, pers.comm., 2000).

Links for the genus:

• The WattleWeb: Acacias from A-Z
• Seed treatment and inoculation: Instructions for acacias and other NFT (Nitrogen Fixing Trees)
• Sustainable livestock production: Indigenous knowledge in utilization of local trees and shrubs in central Tanzania

References

Brenan 1959 ; Dale & Greenway 1961 ; Andrews 1952 ; El Amin 1973 ; El Amin 1990 ; Baumer 1983 ; Ross 1979 ; Wickens et al. 1995.