Yellow Acacia
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Yellow Acacia ( Vachellia xanthophloea ) |
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| ( Benth. ) Banfi & Galasso |
The vachellia xanthophloea or fever acacia ( Vachellia xanthophloea ) is a plant from the genus of Vachellia that the subfamily of mimosa plants (Mimosoideae) within the family of the Leguminosae part (Fabaceae).
Trivial names and their origins
The common name yellow bark acacia is the direct translation of the botanical epithet xanthophloea .
Fever acacia and the English common name "Fever Tree" (translated "Fever Tree") is derived from its location in malaria areas - the warm and humid environment is a breeding ground for the Anopheles mosquitoes that transmit malaria . The first settlers attributed malaria infections to the presence of the tree.
The term fever tree is ambiguous in that, in addition to the fever acacia, the unrelated cinchona trees are sometimes also called fever trees . In this case the reason for the name designation lies in the bark. This contains quinine , a well-known historical antimalarial drug.
In his home area he is called Fever tree (English), Koorsboom (Afrikaans), mooka-kwena (northern Sotho), umHlosinga (Zulu), nkelenga (Tsonga) and munzhelenga (Venda).
description
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Vachellia xanthophloea grows as a semi-evergreen to deciduous and fast-growing tree and reaches heights of 15 to 25 meters. The characteristic, smooth bark is patterned almost bright lime green to greenish yellow and flakes off somewhat; there is a yellow, powdery substance (sulfur yellow). The outer bark of the branches is red-brown and peeling off, then the inner sulfur-yellow bark can be seen. The treetop is open, rounded to spread out or roughly flat and thus has the typical growth form of an umbrella acacia . The long white thorns arranged in pairs are very noticeable on young specimens, but they are hardly noticeable on old specimens. Vachellia xanthophloea has light foliage. The change-constant and bipinnate, stalked leaves contain many small, oblong pinna leaflet .
The trunk exudes a gum that is said to be edible.
In South Africa, the flowering period sometimes extends from August or mostly from September to November. At the ends of the branches there are several stalked, spherical, head-shaped inflorescences on short shoots on the side and on the axis . The hermaphroditic and usually five-fold flowers have a small calyx. The sweet smelling flowers are whitish to reddish or golden yellow. There are many, long and protruding stamens , which determine the color of the flowers, and an upper, short-stalked, single-chamber ovary with a long style. The fruits ripen in South Africa between January and April. The yellowish-brown to brown, often segmented legumes ( leg pods ) are elongated, flattened and relatively small with up to 13 × 1.5 centimeters. The relatively small seeds are hard and smooth and brown. The thousand grain mass is about 30 grams.
The number of chromosomes is 2n = 52.
Occurrence
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Of course it occurs in the warm regions of the low-lying Lowveld in southeastern Africa (especially Zimbabwe and South Africa ) and up to Kenya and Somalia on rivers, lakes, in floodplains and swamps. Vachellia xanthophloea forms light forests in suitable natural locations . The tree also endures light frost.
Taxonomy
The specific epithet xanthophloea is derived from the Greek words xanthos for yellow and phloios for bark.
The first description was under the name ( Basionym ) Acacia xanthophloea Benth. Most of the Acacia species found outside Australia have been separated into four new genera; this species in the genus Vachellia Wight & Arn. The new combination to Vachellia xanthophloea (Benth.) PJHHurter was published by PJHHurter in David John Mabberley : Mabberley's Plant-Book: A Portable Dictionary of Plants, Their Classification and Uses , 2008, p. 1021. However, shortly before that the species was published under the valid name Vachellia xanthophloea (Benth.) Banfi & Galasso .
use
The yellow acacia is used as an ornamental plant. The hard wood is used in many ways.
Vachellia xanthophloea is also used in folk medicine .
literature
- M. Brink, D. Louppe: Plant Resources of Tropical Africa. 7 (1), Timbers 1, PROTA, 2008, ISBN 978-90-5782-209-4 , pp. 31-34.
Web links
- Acacia xanthophloea . In: S. Dressler, M. Schmidt, G. Zizka (Eds.): African plants - A Photo Guide. Senckenberg, Frankfurt / Main 2014.
- Vachellia xanthophloea from Plantz Africa, accessed October 5, 2018.
- Vachellia xanthophloea from Useful Tropical Plants, accessed October 5, 2018.
- Acacia xanthophloea on worldagroforestry.org, accessed October 5, 2018.