Acacia mellifera

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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
Allanblackia ulugurensis
Alnus acuminata
Alnus cordata
Alnus japonica
Alnus nepalensis
Alnus rubra
Alphitonia zizyphoides
Alstonia boonei
Alstonia congensis
Alstonia scholaris
Altingia excelsa
Anacardium occidentale
Andira inermis
Annona cherimola
Annona muricata
Annona reticulata
Annona senegalensis
Annona squamosa
Anogeissus latifolia
Anthocephalus cadamba
Antiaris toxicaria
Antidesma bunius
Araucaria bidwillii
Araucaria cunninghamii
Arbutus unedo
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
Related Links
Tree habit: A. mellifera ssp. mellifera in the Rift valley, Kenya.
© Chris Fagg
Tree habit: Multistemmed habit of A. mellifera ssp. mellifera close to the Angolan border in Namibia.
© Chris Fagg
Acacia mellifera folliage
© Chris Fagg
Flowers: Flowers appear before the leaves on the stems of A. mellifera ssp. mellifera.
© Chris Fagg
Young pods: Flowers and young green pods on the stems of A. mellifera ssp. mellifera.
© Chris Fagg
Mature dehiscent pod: A. mellifera ssp. mellifera.
© Chris Fagg

Local names:
Afrikaans (swarthook,swartaak), Arabic (kitr,kedad,kitir), English (wait-a-bit thorn,black thorn,hook thorn), Ndebele (umngaga,mukotokwa,muguhungu,katogwa), Somali (bilel,laner,lanen), Swahili (kikwata), Tigrigna (tselim kenteb), Tongan (mupandabutolo),

Acacia mellifera is a low, branched tree with a more or less spherical crown. Black bark on stem becomes ash-grey to light brown on the branches, bearing small, short, sharply hooked spines in pairs. It has a shallow but extensive root system radiating from the crown, allowing the plant to exploit soil moisture and nutrients from a large volume of soil. The roots rarely penetrate more than 1 m.

Leaves characterized by 2 pairs of pinnulae, each with a single pair of leaflets. Leaflets elliptic 0.6-2 cm long and 0.6-1.2 cm wide, glabrous and highly coloured beneath. 

Flowers sweetly scented, especially at night, in elongated spikes, cream to white in spiciform racemes, up to 3.5 cm long; pedicels 0.5-1.5 mm long; calyx up to 1 mm long; corolla 2.5-3.5 mm long. 

The papery pods with 2-3-seeds are reticulate, flat, elongated, 2.5-5.5 cm long, 6 cm wide, hemmed, sometimes more or less narrowed between the seeds.

The generic name ‘acacia’ comes from the Greek word ‘akis’, meaning point or barb. The specific name means ‘honey-bearing’.

Ecology

A. mellifera is a commonly occurring shrub on rangelands throughout the savannah in western, eastern and southern Africa. The terrain preference is rocky hillsides with rainfall along seasonal watercourses, mixed with other trees. If left unattended, especially if grazing is heavy and no fires check its spread, it may form dense, impenetrable thickets, 2-3 m high and sometimes hundreds of metres across, slowly taking over good grazing land. This species is drought-tolerant.

Native range
Angola, Botswana, Chad, Eritrea, Ethiopia, Kenya, Namibia, Oman, Saudi Arabia, Somalia, Sudan, Tanzania, Uganda, Yemen, Republic of, Zambia, Zimbabwe

Tree management

Young trees are subject to heavy browsing by stock and game and must be protected for the first two seasons. A. mellifera has a moderate growth rate of up to 500 mm/year. It does not coppice well.

Seed storage behaviour is orthodox; viability can be maintained for several years in hermetic storage at 10 deg. C with 4.5-9% mc. There are approximately 20 000 seeds/kg.

A. mellifera is a commonly occurring shrub on rangelands throughout the savannah in western, eastern and southern Africa. The terrain preference is rocky hillsides with rainfall along seasonal watercourses, mixed with other trees. If left unattended, especially if grazing is heavy and no fires check its spread, it may form dense, impenetrable thickets, 2-3 m high and sometimes hundreds of metres across, slowly taking over good grazing land. This species is drought-tolerant.

Direct sowing of seeds is the common method of artificial propagation. Seed are soaked in concentrated sulphuric acid for 5-15 min or in hot water, left overnight and planted the next morning. Seeds usually germinate from the 5th day onwards. Due to its high rate of seeding, long viability of seed and ability to overcome arid climates, profuse natural regeneration is generally common.

Poison:  The poison with which Bushmen tip their arrows is often made from a powdered grub mixed with the sap of A. mellifera.

 Gum collected from injured stems is edible and relished by children, animals and birds.

Camels and goats browse the leaves, which are rich in protein, taking them from the shrubs or from the ground.

Apiculture:  The cream/white flowers produce excellent quality honey (‘mellifera’ = producing honey). Bees forage in the late morning to mid afternoon when hot and  dry.

The wood is used for fuel and charcoal.

Timber:  The wood is taken for building huts and the branches for fencing.

Medicine:  The bark decoction is used for stomach-ache, sterility, pneumonia, malaria and syphilis. In Botswana, a decoction of the roots is a medicine for stomach pain.