{"slug":"senegalia-senegal","scientific_name":"Senegalia senegal","common_names":["Gum arabic tree","Gum acacia","Hashab","Kher"],"family":"Fabaceae","type":"broadleaf_deciduous","mature_height_m":8,"mature_spread_m":6,"growth_rate":"slow","lifespan_years":null,"hardiness_zones":null,"sun":"full","water":"low","soil":"Deep sandy soils to dry rocky ground, slightly acid to moderately alkaline; intolerant of waterlogging","native_range":"Native across the Sahel from Senegal and Mauritania to Sudan, Eritrea, Ethiopia, Somalia and Kenya, south through Tanzania to Angola, Namibia, Zimbabwe and South Africa, and in Arabia, Pakistan and north-west India.","description":"A small, deciduous, flat-topped thorn tree to about 15 m (usually much smaller) with hooked thorns in threes and creamy flower spikes. Its tapped bark yields gum arabic, the food and pharmaceutical thickener that is Sudan's and the Sahel's great export, and it fixes nitrogen and holds sand dunes. It is one of the main species of Africa's Great Green Wall plantings, usually in rotation with crops.","care":"Plant at the start of the rains and weed for three growing seasons; protect from livestock, which relish young plants. Seedlings are slow (30 to 40 cm a year). Tapping starts at four to five years, in the dry season. Locusts, bruchid beetles and treehoppers damage leaves and seed. Where introduced (Australia, South Africa) it is regarded as a potential weed.","benefits":["nitrogen_fixing","drought_tolerant","erosion_control","pollinators","windbreak","wildlife"],"uses":["agroforestry","reforestation","windbreak","hedgerow"],"cautions":["thorns","invasive_elsewhere"],"image_url":"https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/e/ed/Acacia_senegal_-_K%C3%B6hler%E2%80%93s_Medizinal-Pflanzen-004.jpg","image_credit":"Wikimedia Commons, file Acacia_senegal_-_Köhler–s_Medizinal-Pflanzen-004.jpg (see file page for author and licence)","sources":["https://apps.worldagroforestry.org/treedb2/speciesprofile.php?Spid=108","https://apps.worldagroforestry.org/treedb/AFTPDFS/Acacia_senegal.PDF","https://www.gbif.org/species/3977346"],"data_note":null,"updated_at":"2026-11-08T01:00:46.205Z","page_url":"https://treerm.org/trees/senegalia-senegal","markdown_url":"https://treerm.org/trees/senegalia-senegal.md","regions":[{"country":"ER","region":null,"locality":null,"status":"native","note":null,"source_url":"https://www.gbif.org/species/3977346"},{"country":"ET","region":null,"locality":null,"status":"native","note":null,"source_url":"https://www.gbif.org/species/3977346"},{"country":"IN","region":null,"locality":null,"status":"native","note":"Native in arid north-west India (Sind, Ajmer) per ICRAF and WCVP","source_url":"https://www.gbif.org/species/3977346"},{"country":"KE","region":null,"locality":null,"status":"native","note":null,"source_url":"https://www.gbif.org/species/3977346"},{"country":"ML","region":null,"locality":null,"status":"native","note":null,"source_url":"https://www.gbif.org/species/3977346"},{"country":"NE","region":null,"locality":null,"status":"native","note":null,"source_url":"https://www.gbif.org/species/3977346"},{"country":"NG","region":null,"locality":null,"status":"native","note":null,"source_url":"https://www.gbif.org/species/3977346"},{"country":"PK","region":null,"locality":null,"status":"native","note":null,"source_url":"https://www.gbif.org/species/3977346"},{"country":"SD","region":null,"locality":null,"status":"native","note":"Gum arabic belt","source_url":"https://www.gbif.org/species/3977346"},{"country":"SN","region":null,"locality":null,"status":"native","note":null,"source_url":"https://www.gbif.org/species/3977346"},{"country":"TD","region":null,"locality":null,"status":"native","note":null,"source_url":"https://www.gbif.org/species/3977346"},{"country":"AU","region":null,"locality":null,"status":"adapted","note":"Exotic; ICRAF notes Australia discourages further introduction as a potential weed","source_url":"https://apps.worldagroforestry.org/treedb2/speciesprofile.php?Spid=108"}],"license":"CC-BY-4.0"}