Vachellia erioloba

Plants of the genus Alhagi are also sometimes called camelthorns or camel thorns

Vachellia erioloba
Vachellia erioloba Camel Thorn
Seeds and pods
Scientific classification
Kingdom:	Plantae
(unranked):	Angiosperms
(unranked):	Eudicots
(unranked):	Rosids
Order:	Fabales
Family:	Fabaceae
Genus:	Vachellia
Species:	V. erioloba
Binomial name
Vachellia erioloba (E.Mey.) P.J.H.Hurter
Synonyms
Acacia erioloba E.Mey. Vachellia erioloba (E. Mey.) Seigler & Ebinger

Vachellia erioloba (camel thorn, giraffe thorn, Afrikaans: Kameeldoring, Tswana: Mogôtlhô, Sotho: Mogohlo) is a southern African legume. Its preferred habitat is the deep dry sandy soils of the Northern Provinces, western Free State, northern Cape Provinces, Botswana, and the western areas of Zimbabwe and Namibia. It is also native to Angola, south-west Mozambique, Zambia, KwaZulu-Natal, and Swaziland. The tree was first described by Ernst Heinrich Friedrich Meyer and Johann Franz Drège in 1836.

The tree can grow up to 17 metres high and is commonly found in Namibia. Its name refers to the fact that giraffe (kameelperd in Afrikaans) and camels commonly graze on the harder-to-reach succulent leaves normally out of reach of smaller animals. Giraffe in particular are partial to all vachellias and manifest a specially-adapted tongue and lips that can cope with the vicious thorns. It also grows ear-shaped pods, which are favoured by a large number of herbivores including cattle. The wood is dark reddish-brown in colour and extremely dense and strong. It is slow-growing, very hardy to drought and fairly frost-resistant.

The wood is a good fuel for fires, which leads to widespread clearing of dead trees and the felling of healthy trees. According to superstition, lightning will strike at V. erioloba more often than other trees. The camel thorn's seeds can be roasted and used as a substitute for coffee beans. The camel thorn is a protected tree in South Africa.

Gallery

• Acacia erioloba00.jpg

  The pods of the Camel thorn, while they remain on a tree (near Potgietersrust in Transvaal, South Africa)

• 

  Vachellia erioloba seeds, lying upon the ground, scattered among their pods, Sossusvlei, Namib Desert, Namibia

• Acacia erioloba01.jpg

  Mokala Bark on a tree near Potgietersrust in Transvaal, South Africa

• Acacia erioloba02.jpg

  The sharp thorns of the Mokala resemble barbed wire (growing near Potgietersrust in Transvaal, South Africa)

• 

  Vachellia erioloba tree in the Namib Desert

• 

  Vachellia erioloba, Kalahari desert

External links

• The type specimen of Acacia giraffae, proved on closer examination to be a hybrid of V. haematoxylon and the species which would later become known as V. erioloba. The name V. erioloba was therefore proposed for the vast numbers of camel thorn which are not hybrids.