Common names
Mkaya, mzonono, mpande (Nyanja)
The Latin name refers to the hairy thorns of this species.
General description and distinguishing characteristics
A shrub or tree up to 15 m in height which is often flat topped or spreading. Bark on trunk grey to brown, furrowed to smooth; the young branchlets densely covered in grey to yellowish hairs up to 2 mm long. Older branches distinctly powdery green to yellow. Thorns mostly short, up to 0.7 cm long, straight and hairy except towards the tips, or sometimes longer, grey or straw-coloured up to 5 cm long. Leaves compound, 2.5-6 cm long, hairy, with 8-16 pairs of pinnae, each bearing 14-28 pairs of leaflets. Leaflets typically 1.5-4 x 0.5-1 mm. Flowers cream or tinged red in spherical heads, axillary (May-July). Fruit pods (5-12.5 x 1.2-2.9 cm) grey to grey-brown or purple brown, narrowed at the base and sometimes at the top, finely veined, hairless or nearly so (August-October).
Range and habitat
Acacia pilispina occurs down the east side of Africa from Ethiopia down to Tanzania and Zambia. In the Luangwa valley it is rare but sometimes found in flood channels on heavy, cracking clay. Also on termite mounds in scrub mopane woodland.