Acacia gourmaensis A. Chev.

Leguminosae

Common name

Kaamaa mu rabaa

Description

Shrub or small tree with many short branches, with a thin, scaly, brown, corkish bark, vertically fissured, with a reddish slash. Twigs dark grey with small (0.5 cm long), claw shaped, recurved backward, prickles set in axillary pairs. Leaves bipinnate 2.5-7.5 cm long having 3-5 pairs of pinnae with 1-(2) pairs of petiolated leaflets each ; leaflets obovate, asymetric, 0.7-1.8 x 0.3-0.9 cm, glabrous or almost so, pinkish at the young stage, with protruding palmate nerves, primary and secondary nerves obviously connecting. Flowers cream-whitish in racemes 3-5 cm long in short axillary spikes in "bottle-brush" shape. Pods flattened, thin, oblong (4-6 x 1.8-2.2 cm), glabrous, papery, reticulate, with 1-2 seeds only.

Can be differentiated from its allied taxa of the Aculiferum subgenus : Acacia senegal, A. laeta, A. dudgeoni and A. mellifera by its leaves having 3-5 pairs of pinnae and only one pair of elliptic petiolated leaflets each.

Soil

Found on loamy soils, occasionally on shallow hardpans.

Distribution

Southern, central and eastern Sahel and Sudano-Guinean savannas from the Gulf of Benin, Burkina Faso and Niger to Sudan. Non-existent in Senegal, Mauritania and Mali. Longitudinal E-W distribution similar to A. mellifera, within the Sahel but absent in eastern and southern Africa.

Products & uses

Fiber of roots and bark are used for various wicker-works. Young shoots, leaves and pods are browsed by all livestock. The flowers are appreciated by bees. Medicinal uses are cough cure, malaria and hepatic disorders.

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 1957a ; Hutchinson et al. 1958 ; Ross 1979 ; Geerling 1982/88 ; Von Maydell 1983/86.