Acacia schweinfurthii

Acacia schweinfurthii Brenan & Exell

Common names

River climbing Acacia (English); Kalikalula (Nyanja, Tumbuka).

The Latin name refers to Georg Schweinfurth who collected the first scientific specimen of this tree in Sudan.

General description and distinguishing characteristics

A climbing shrub up to 12 m, or a small, spreading tree. Bark smooth, light brown; young branchlets olive green or pale brown, hairy and glandular. Thorns curved, scattered, arising from brownish longitudinal bands, darker than intervening yellowish to grey ones.Leaves compound, 6-16 cm long with 9-17 pairs of pinnae 3.5-7cm long, each bearing 17-60 pairs of leaflets. Leaflets typically 1-2 mm wide, bright green, hairless and without stalks. Flowers white or pale cream in spherical heads, 8-12 mm diameter (Dec-Feb). Fruit oblong pods (9.5-19 x 1-3 cm), leathery, with conspicuous swellings over the seeds. Fruits slow to split open or not splitting open at all (March-June).

Range and habitat

Acacia schweinfurthii occurs from the Sudan southwards to South Africa. In the Luangwa valley it has only been collected once - by Norman Robson near Sasare, en route to Petauke at an altitude 750m in Acacia-Combretum woodland.

Acacia schweinfurthii can be mistaken for Acacia ataxacantha. However, the latter has flowers in spikes, not balls, and its leaflets have stalks.