Gum arabic tree
Senegalia senegal · Fabaceae · also Gum acacia, Hashab, Kher
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.
Where it stands
Native
This tree evolved here, and local wildlife depends on it.
Adapted
Introduced, but it handles this climate and has not shown a habit of spreading.
- 🇦🇺 Australia · Exotic; ICRAF notes Australia discourages further introduction as a potential weedsource
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
Good for