Acacia karroo Hayne

Spice Detail

Family: LEGUMINOSAE

Genus: Acacia

Catalan common name: Aromer de Sud-àfrica.

Spanish common name: Espina dulce.

General distribution (Phytogeography): Africa

Uses and properties: Edible or foodstuffs. Dye industry. Furniture, construction and tools. Medicinal.

Flowering time: JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDec

Life-forms: Macrophanerophyte.

Habitats: Garden plants. Gardens.

Characteristics: A tree that grows to 8 m. in height, deciduous and with a broad crown. Very characteristic are its prominent spies that make it unmistakeable (the oldest branches can have white spines up to 10 cm. in length.) The leaves (phylodes) are divided (bipinnate) and the yellow flowers are grouped in round, pedunculate glomerules located on the axils of the upper leaves. The fruit is elongate and compressed, constricted between the seeds.