''Senegalia caffra'', also known as hook-thorn or ''Acacia caffra'', is a tree that occurs commonly in

southern Africa Southern Africa is the southernmost subregion of the African continent, south of the Congo and Tanzania. The physical location is the large part of Africa to the south of the extensive Congo River basin. Southern Africa is home to a number of ...

. Though it is cultivated, it often occurs naturally in

Gauteng Gauteng ( ) is one of the nine provinces of South Africa. The name in Sotho-Tswana languages means 'place of gold'. Situated on the Highveld, Gauteng is the smallest province by land area in South Africa. Although Gauteng accounts for only ...

suburban gardens, together with '' Acacia karroo'' and ''

Acacia robusta ''Vachellia robusta'', the splendid thorn, is an Afrotropical tree species. It is native to eastern and southern Africa, ranging from Ethiopia and Somalia in the north to South Africa and Namibia in southern Africa.heart rot 300px, The bracket fungus '' Fistulina hepatica'' is one of many that cause heart rot. In trees, heart rot is a fungal disease that causes the decay of wood at the center of the trunk and branches. Fungi enter the tree through wounds in the bark ...

. The bark is rough, dark grey and flaking, while the strong, paired hooked thorns are a formidable deterrent on young plants. Twigs which may vary in hairiness from densely puberulous to pubescent or tomentose. Due to its variability the species has been described under many names, some being listed below. ''Senegalia caffra'' is deciduous and older plants are resistant to frost, fire and drought. Its appearance may be confused with that of ''

Senegalia ataxacantha ''Senegalia ataxacantha'', commonly known as the flame thorn, is an African tree species with conspicuous red pods and numerous hooked prickles. Range It is widespread in sub-Saharan Africa from Senegal in the west to Sudan in the east, Namibia ...

'' or with '' Senegalia hereroensis'', though the former has scattered prickles and the latter has more robust prickles. Together with ''

Dombeya rotundifolia ''Dombeya rotundifolia'', the dikbas or "South African wild pear" (it is not related to pear trees), is a small deciduous tree with dark grey to blackish deeply fissured bark, found in Southern Africa and northwards to central and eastern tropi ...

'' and ''

Erythrina lysistemon ''Erythrina lysistemon'' is a species of deciduous tree in the pea family, Fabaceae, that is native to South Africa. Common names include common coral-tree, lucky bean tree, umsintsi (Xhosa), muvhale (Venda), mophete (Tswana), koraalboom of kann ...

'', this species is one of the earliest to flower in spring, producing strongly scented flower spikes.

Distribution

It occurs in the

Transvaal Transvaal is a historical geographic term associated with land north of (''i.e.'', beyond) the Vaal River in South Africa. A number of states and administrative divisions have carried the name Transvaal. * South African Republic (1856–1902; af, ...

Eswatini Eswatini ( ; ss, eSwatini ), officially the Kingdom of Eswatini and formerly named Swaziland ( ; officially renamed in 2018), is a landlocked country in Southern Africa. It is bordered by Mozambique to its northeast and South Africa to its no ...

KwaZulu-Natal KwaZulu-Natal (, also referred to as KZN and known as "the garden province") is a province of South Africa that was created in 1994 when the Zulu bantustan of KwaZulu ("Place of the Zulu" in Zulu) and Natal Province were merged. It is locate ...

Cape Province The Province of the Cape of Good Hope ( af, Provinsie Kaap die Goeie Hoop), commonly referred to as the Cape Province ( af, Kaapprovinsie) and colloquially as The Cape ( af, Die Kaap), was a province in the Union of South Africa and subsequen ...

and the southern regions of

Botswana Botswana (, ), officially the Republic of Botswana ( tn, Lefatshe la Botswana, label=Setswana, ), is a landlocked country in Southern Africa. Botswana is topographically flat, with approximately 70 percent of its territory being the Kalahar ...

Zimbabwe Zimbabwe (), officially the Republic of Zimbabwe, is a landlocked country located in Southeast Africa, between the Zambezi and Limpopo Rivers, bordered by South Africa to the south, Botswana to the south-west, Zambia to the north, and Mozam ...

and

Mozambique Mozambique (), officially the Republic of Mozambique ( pt, Moçambique or , ; ny, Mozambiki; sw, Msumbiji; ts, Muzambhiki), is a country located in southeastern Africa bordered by the Indian Ocean to the east, Tanzania to the north, Malawi ...

. ''Senegalia caffra'' was also observed, in 1957, by French researchers in the current

Central African Republic The Central African Republic (CAR; ; , RCA; , or , ) is a landlocked country in Central Africa. It is bordered by Chad to the north, Sudan to the northeast, South Sudan to the southeast, the DR Congo to the south, the Republic of th ...

Uses

Parts of the tree are used by the

Bantu Bantu may refer to: *Bantu languages, constitute the largest sub-branch of the Niger–Congo languages *Bantu peoples, over 400 peoples of Africa speaking a Bantu language * Bantu knots, a type of African hairstyle *Black Association for National ...

in traditional herbal medicine for curing a large range of complaints.

Chemistry

In common with other ''Acacias'' and ''Senegalias'', the bark and leaves are rich in tannins such as

proteracacinidin Proteracacinidins are polymeric condensed tannins composed of mesquitol. This type of tannin can be found in ''Acacia caffra'' ('' Senegalia caffra'').A novel doubly-linked proteracacinidin analogue from Acacia caffra. E Malan, A Sireeparsad, JFW ...

.A novel doubly-linked proteracacinidin analogue from Acacia caffra. E Malan, A Sireeparsad, JFW Burger and D Ferreira, Tetrahedron letters, 1994

Gallery

Acacia caffra08.jpg, Acacia caffra07.jpg, Acacia caffra04.jpg, Acacia caffra01.jpg, Acacia caffra06.jpg,

References

External links