Acacia etbaica

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Abelmoschus moschatus
Acacia aneura
Acacia angustissima
Acacia aulacocarpa
Acacia auriculiformis
Acacia catechu
Acacia cincinnata
Acacia crassicarpa
Acacia elatior
Acacia erioloba
Acacia etbaica
Acacia ferruginea
Acacia glauca
Acacia holosericea
Acacia karroo*
Acacia koa
Acacia laeta
Acacia lahai
Acacia leptocarpa
Acacia leucophloea
Acacia mangium
Acacia mearnsii*
Acacia melanoxylon
Acacia mellifera
Acacia nilotica subsp nilotica
Acacia pachycarpa
Acacia pennatula
Acacia polyacantha ssp. polyacantha
Acacia saligna
Acacia senegal
Acacia seyal
Acacia sieberiana
Acacia tortilis
Acacia xanthophloea
Acrocarpus fraxinifolius
Adansonia digitata
Adenanthera pavonina
Aegle marmelos
Afzelia africana
Afzelia quanzensis
Agathis macrophylla
Agathis philippinensis
Ailanthus altissima
Ailanthus excelsa
Ailanthus triphysa
Albizia adianthifolia
Albizia amara
Albizia anthelmintica
Albizia chinensis
Albizia coriaria
Albizia ferruginea
Albizia gummifera
Albizia julibrissin
Albizia lebbeck
Albizia odoratissima
Albizia procera
Albizia saman
Albizia versicolor
Albizia zygia
Aleurites moluccana
Allanblackia floribunda
Allanblackia stuhlmannii
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Araucaria cunninghamii
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Areca catechu
Arenga pinnata
Argania spinosa
Artemisia annua
Artocarpus altilis
Artocarpus camansi
Artocarpus heterophyllus
Artocarpus integer
Artocarpus lakoocha
Artocarpus mariannensis
Asimina triloba
Ateleia herbert-smithii
Aucomea klaineana
Averrhoa bilimbi
Averrhoa carambola
Azadirachta excelsa
Azadirachta indica
Azanza garckeana

Local names:
Arabic (arrad), Swahili (mgunga), Tigrigna (seraw)

Acacia etbaica is a tree or shrub (min. 2) 2.5-12 m tall; trunk distinct with flattened or round crown in older trees; bark pale brown, brownish-black, reddish-grey or dark grey, smooth or fissured; spines in pairs at the nodes, brownish-white, of 2 kinds-small and recurved, to 7 mm long and long to 6 mm; slash fibrous and creamy white; twigs red-brown.

Leaves have 1-9 pairs of pinnae; leaflets in 4-35 pairs, pubescent, 0.5-4 x 0.2-1.3 mm; petiole 0.3-1 cm; petiole and rachis glands absent.

Inflorescences capitate, on axillary peduncles 0.7-4 cm long; involucel 1/3 to 2/3 up peduncle, or sometimes near the base; flowers white or cream; calyx 0.4-1 mm long, glabrous apices of lobes puberulous; corolla 2-3 mm long.

Fruit a pod, linear-oblong, purple-brown to red brown, shiny, straight, 2-12 x 0.6-2.2 cm, often attenuated at the base, glabrous or puberulous, with fine oblique or longitudinal veins, dehiscent; seeds about 8, brown or olive-brown, elliptic, flattened, 5.5 x 3.5-8 mm.

A. etbaica has a number of subspecies namely: subsp. etbaica, mainly found in Sudan and Somalia, subsp. uncinata Brenan found in Somalia, Uganda and Kenya and subsp. platycarpa Brenan found in Kenya and Tanzania. A. etbaica is also closely related to A. reficiens ssp. misera and A. elatior.

The generic name ‘acacia’ comes from the Greek word ‘akis’, meaning a point or a barb.

Ecology

A. etbaica occurs in dry bushland, thickets, semi-desert scrub and wooded grasslands.

Native range
Eritrea, Ethiopia, Kenya, Somalia, Sudan, Tanzania, Uganda

Seed storage behaviour is orthodox.

A. etbaica occurs in dry bushland, thickets, semi-desert scrub and wooded grasslands.

A. etbaica is a source of good firewood.

Timber: Provides the pillars and beams to hold the heavy earthen roofs of houses in northern Ethiopia.

Medicine:  The bark is chewed as a stimulant and is also used in the treatment of gonorrhoea