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

southern Africa Southern Africa is the southernmost region of Africa. No definition is agreed upon, but some groupings include the United Nations geoscheme for Africa, United Nations geoscheme, the intergovernmental Southern African Development Community, and ...

. Though it is cultivated, it often occurs naturally in

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

suburban gardens, together with ''

Acacia karroo ''Vachellia karroo'', (synonym ''Acacia karroo'') commonly known as the sweet thorn, common acacia, Karoo thorn, Cape gum or cockspur thorn, is a species of ''Vachellia'', in the Mimosa sub-family (Mimosoideae) of the Fabaceae or pea family, whi ...

'' 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 Namibia, officially the Republic of Namibi ...

''. It is up to tall and may be found in open woodland, grassland, rocky hillsides or watercourses.

Description

It has extremely hard, dense and attractive timber, and is only spared from intense exploitation because of its strongly twisted trunk which does not lend itself to long planks, and its tendency to develop

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 and decay the heartwood. The diseased heartwood softens, making trees structurally wea ...

. 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 afra'' 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 Africa, central an ...

'' and ''

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

'', 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; ...

Eswatini Eswatini, formally the Kingdom of Eswatini, also known by its former official names Swaziland and the Kingdom of Swaziland, is a landlocked country in Southern Africa. It is bordered by South Africa on all sides except the northeast, where i ...

KwaZulu-Natal KwaZulu-Natal (, also referred to as KZN) is a Provinces of South Africa, province of South Africa that was created in 1994 when the government merged the Zulu people, Zulu bantustan of KwaZulu ("Place of the Zulu" in Zulu language, Zulu) and ...

Cape Province The Province of the Cape of Good Hope (), commonly referred to as the Cape Province () and colloquially as The Cape (), was a province in the Union of South Africa and subsequently the Republic of South Africa. It encompassed the old Cape Co ...

and the southern regions of

Botswana Botswana, officially the Republic of Botswana, is a landlocked country in Southern Africa. Botswana is topographically flat, with approximately 70 percent of its territory part of the Kalahari Desert. It is bordered by South Africa to the sou ...

Zimbabwe file:Zimbabwe, relief map.jpg, upright=1.22, Zimbabwe, relief map Zimbabwe, officially the Republic of Zimbabwe, is a landlocked country in Southeast Africa, between the Zambezi and Limpopo Rivers, bordered by South Africa to the south, Bots ...

and

Mozambique Mozambique, officially the Republic of Mozambique, is a country located in Southeast Africa bordered by the Indian Ocean to the east, Tanzania to the north, Malawi and Zambia to the northwest, Zimbabwe to the west, and Eswatini and South Afr ...

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

Central African Republic The Central African Republic (CAR) is a landlocked country in Central Africa. It is bordered by Chad to Central African Republic–Chad border, the north, Sudan to Central African Republic–Sudan border, the northeast, South Sudan to Central ...

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. A decoction of the leaves is drunk to treat colds and fever 99 A leaf decoction, combined with milk, is used as an enema to treat abdominal complaints in children. The leaves are sometimes chewed for the same purpose 99 A bark infusion is administered as a blood purifier 99 A number of proteracacinidins (proanthocyanidins) have been isolated from the heartwood, and several cyanogenic glycosides from the leaves 99 The magical uses in South Africa are numerous. A sprig is placed over a bed to war off evil. It is used in money and love spells and the burned wood stimulates psychic powers

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 hook-thorn tree (''Senegalia afra''). The oxidative depolymerization of proteracacinidins yields the anthocyanidin Anthocyanidins are ...

Taxonomy

The original etymology of its previous species epithet "''caffra''" is related to kaffir, an ethnic slur used towards black people in Africa. At the July 2024

International Botanical Congress International Botanical Congress (IBC) is an international meeting of Botany, botanists in all scientific fields, authorized by the International Association of Botanical and Mycological Societies (IABMS) and held every six years, with the locatio ...

, a vote was held with the result that "''caffra''" related names will be emended to ''afra'' related ones, with the implementation of this happening by the end of July 2024.

Gallery

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

References

{{Taxonbar, from1=Q128790832, from2=Q4670880, from3=Q15535848, from4=Q39105621 afra