Senegalia laeta

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Senegalia laeta
Acacia laeta ms 2460.jpg
Senegalia laeta on a hill near Djibo, Burkina Faso
Scientific classification Red Pencil Icon.png
Kingdom: Plantae
Clade: Tracheophytes
Clade: Angiosperms
Clade: Eudicots
Clade: Rosids
Order: Fabales
Family: Fabaceae
Subfamily: Caesalpinioideae
Clade: Mimosoideae
Tribe: Acacieae
Genus: Senegalia
Species:
S. laeta
Binomial name
Senegalia laeta
(R. Br. ex Benth.) Seigler & Ebinger
Acacia-laeta-range-map.png
Range of Senegalia laeta
Synonyms [1]
  • Acacia laetaR. Br. ex Benth.
  • Acacia trintigniani A. Chev.

Senegalia laeta, the gay acacia or daga, is a legume found in the family Fabaceae. It was formerly included in the genus Acacia.

Contents

Description

Senegalia laeta is a perennial shrub or small tree growing to a height of 4–10 m with a greyish-green bark looking blackish from a distance, with a pink slash. The leaves are twice-pinnate, i.e. the pinnate leaves are further divided pinnately, the leaflets are 1–4 cm long, with 2-5 pairs of pinnae and 2-5 pairs of leaflets per pinna; leaflets are oblong and asymmetrical, measuring 6-1.2 x 0.3-0.5 cm, greyish green and almost hairless. These leaves distinguish Senegalia laeta from the related sympatric species such as Senegalia dudgeoni , Senegalia senegal , Senegalia gourmaensis and Senegalia mellifera by its leaves. The thorns are paired and consist of recurved axillary prickles, with an occasional a third prickle recurved forward, if the third thorn is absent it is normally replaced with a leaf. The flowers are creamy white and very fragrant, with three flowers set on a stalk with multiple stalks growing on a spike. The pale brown leathery pods are pointed, whereas those of Seneglia senegal are not and this character is an easy feature to distinguish these Senegalia laeta from that species. [1]

Distribution

Senegalia laeta is native to Africa, including the Sahara as far south as Tanzania, the Middle East, and Western Asia. [1] [2]

Uses

Parts of the tree are used for dyestuff. The tree is used for fodder; the foliage and seed pods make good forage for livestock and the tree stands up well to this use. [3]

It produces an edible gum which is used to make gum arabic but is not as good quality as the gum Arabic extracted from Senegalia senegal. It is harvested at the end of the rainy season when the gum is exuded from the bark and branches and collected by scraping, the bark is sometimes cut to increase production. [3] Other uses to which Senegalia laeta is put are as fuel-wood and charcoal, browse for domestic animals, dead fencing for bomas, poles, fence-posts. The bark from the trunk is used for making ropes and repairing calabashes, and in medicine it is considered to have analgesic properties. It is also used to soften hides before tanning. It is drought tolerant and has been successfully planted in reafforestation programmes. [1]

Taxonomy

Formerly included in the genus Acacia it has now been reassigned with many African species of acacia to the genus Senegalia . [4] [5] The specific name laeta is the feminine of laetus and means "joyful, cheerful, happy" in Latin. [2]

Related Research Articles

<i>Acacia sensu lato</i> Genus of legumes

Acacia s.l., known commonly as mimosa, acacia, thorntree or wattle, is a polyphyletic genus of shrubs and trees belonging to the subfamily Mimosoideae of the family Fabaceae. It was described by the Swedish botanist Carl Linnaeus in 1773 based on the African species Acacia nilotica. Many non-Australian species tend to be thorny, whereas the majority of Australian acacias are not. All species are pod-bearing, with sap and leaves often bearing large amounts of tannins and condensed tannins that historically found use as pharmaceuticals and preservatives.

<i>Robinia pseudoacacia</i> Species of tree native to North America

Robinia pseudoacacia, commonly known in its native territory as black locust, is a medium-sized hardwood deciduous tree, belonging to the tribe Robinieae of the legume family Fabaceae. It is endemic to a few small areas of the United States, but it has been widely planted and naturalized elsewhere in temperate North America, Europe, Southern Africa and Asia and is considered an invasive species in some areas. Another common name is false acacia, a literal translation of the specific name.

<i>Senegalia greggii</i> Species of tree

Senegalia greggii, formerly known as Acacia greggii, is a species of tree in the genus Senegalia native to the southwestern United States and northern Mexico, from the extreme south of Utah south through southern Nevada, southeast California, Arizona, New Mexico and western Texas to Baja California, Sinaloa and Nuevo León in Mexico. The population in Utah at 37°10' N is the northernmost naturally occurring Senegalia species anywhere in the world.

<i>Senegalia senegal</i> Species of deciduous tree

Senegalia senegal is a small thorny deciduous tree from the genus Senegalia, which is known by several common names, including gum acacia, gum arabic tree, Sudan gum and Sudan gum arabic. In parts of India, it is known as Kher or Khor. It is native to semi-desert regions of Sub-Saharan Africa, as well as Oman, Pakistan, west coastal India. It grows to a height of 5–12 metres (16-40'), with a trunk up to 30 cm (1') in diameter. Sudan is the source of the world's highest quality gum arabic, known locally as hashab gum in contrast to the related, but inferior, gum arabic from Red acacia or talah gum.

<i>Acacia</i> Genus of plants

Acacia, commonly known as the wattles or acacias, is a large genus of shrubs and trees in the subfamily Mimosoideae of the pea family Fabaceae. Initially, it comprised a group of plant species native to Africa and Australasia, but it has now been limited to contain only the Australasian species. The genus name is New Latin, borrowed from the Greek ἀκακία, a term used by Dioscorides for a preparation extracted from the leaves and fruit pods of Vachellia nilotica, the original type of the genus. In his Pinax (1623), Gaspard Bauhin mentioned the Greek ἀκακία from Dioscorides as the origin of the Latin name.

<i>Vachellia tortilis</i> Species of plant

Vachellia tortilis, widely known as Acacia tortilis but now attributed to the genus Vachellia, is the umbrella thorn acacia, also known as umbrella thorn and Israeli babool, a medium to large canopied tree native to most of Africa, primarily to the savanna and Sahel of Africa, but also occurring in the Middle East.

<i>Vachellia nilotica</i> Species of flowering plant in the bean family Fabaceae

Vachellia nilotica is a flowering plant tree in the family Fabaceae. It is native to Africa, the Middle East and the Indian subcontinent. It is also a Weed of National Significance in Australia as well as a Federal Noxious Weed in the United States.

<i>Vachellia karroo</i> Species of legume

Vachellia karroo, commonly known as the Sweet thorn, is a species of Vachellia, native to southern Africa from southern Angola east to Mozambique, and south to South Africa.

<i>Vachellia sieberiana</i> Species of legume

Vachellia sieberiana, until recently known as Acacia sieberiana and commonly known as the paperbark thorn or paperbark acacia, is a tree native to southern Africa and introduced into Pakistan. It is used in many areas for various purposes. The tree varies from 3 to 25 m in height, with a trunk diameter of 0.6 to 1.8 m. It is not listed as being a threatened species.

<i>Senegalia mellifera</i> Species of legume

Senegalia mellifera is a common thorn tree in Africa. The name mellifera refers to its sweet-smelling blossoms and honey. Its lumber turns pitch black when oiled. Common names of the tree include Blackthorn and Swarthaak (Afrikaans). It is listed as being not threatened.

<i>Vachellia xanthophloea</i> Species of legume

Vachellia xanthophloea is a tree in the family Fabaceae, commonly known in English as the fever tree. This species of Vachellia is native to eastern and southern Africa. It has also become a landscape tree in other warm climates, outside of its natural range.

<i>Vachellia</i> Genus of legumes

Vachellia is a genus of flowering plants in the legume family, Fabaceae, commonly known as thorn trees or acacias. It belongs to the subfamily Mimosoideae. Its species were considered members of genus Acacia until 2009. Vachellia can be distinguished from other acacias by its capitate inflorescences and spinescent stipules. Before discovery of the New World, Europeans in the Mediterranean region were familiar with several species of Vachellia, which they knew as sources of medicine, and had names for them that they inherited from the Greeks and Romans.

<i>Vachellia reficiens</i> Species of legume

Vachellia reficiens, commonly known as red-bark acacia, red thorn, false umbrella tree, or false umbrella thorn, is a deciduous tree or shrub of the pea family (Fabaceae) native to southern Africa, often growing in an upside-down cone shape and with a relatively flat crown.

<i>Senegalia ataxacantha</i> Species of legume

Senegalia ataxacantha, commonly known as the flame thorn, is an African tree species with conspicuous red pods and numerous hooked prickles.

<i>Senegalia caffra</i> Species of legume

Senegalia caffra, also known as hook-thorn or Acacia caffra, is a tree that occurs commonly in southern Africa. Though it is cultivated, it often occurs naturally in Gauteng suburban gardens, together with Acacia karroo and Acacia robusta.

<i>Senegalia modesta</i> Species of legume

Senegalia modesta is a species of plant commonly found in Pakistan, India and Afghanistan. S. modesta is a perennial tree and formerly, it was classified as Acacia modesta. The plant is drought tolerant. S. modesta`s tree grow in medium size deciduous form with rough surfaced, brown or greenish grey bark, leaflets as, cream colored inflorescence in the form of pedunculate spike, pods as stipitate having 3-5 seeds inside.

<i>Vachellia abyssinica</i> Species of legume

Vachellia abyssinica, the flat top acacia, is a tree up to 16 m tall.

<i>Albizia amara</i> Species of legume

Albizia amara is a tree in the family Fabaceae. Its range includes southern and Eastern Africa, from South Africa to Sudan and Ethiopia. It is also found in India and Sri Lanka.

Brachystegia eurycoma, a plant in the family Fabaceae, is a sizable species of tree found in southern Nigeria and western Cameroon. It has a spreading, flattened crown.

Daniellia oliveri is a species of tree in the family Fabaceae. It is native to tropical West and Central Africa and is commonly known as the African copaiba balsam tree, or the West African copal tree.

References

  1. 1 2 3 4 Heuzé V., Thiollet H., Tran G., Lebas F., 2018. Black-hooked acacia (Senegalia laeta). Feedipedia, a programme by INRA, CIRAD, AFZ and FAO. https://www.feedipedia.org/node/348 Last updated on February 12, 2018, 11:44
  2. 1 2 "Senegalia laeta (as Acacia laeta)". Flowers in Israel. Martha Modzelevich. Retrieved 2016-11-25.
  3. 1 2 "Senegalia laeta". Useful Tropical Plants. Retrieved 2016-11-25.
  4. "The Acacia debate" (PDF). IBC2011 Congress News. Retrieved May 5, 2016.
  5. Smith, Gideon F. & Figueiredo, Estrela (2011). "Conserving Acacia Mill. with a conserved type: What happened in Melbourne?". Taxon. 60 (5): 1504–1506. doi:10.1002/tax.605033. hdl: 2263/17733 .