Acacia erioloba

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

Acacia erioloba
Acacia erioloba Camel Thorn
Seeds and pods
Scientific classification
Kingdom:	Plantae
(unranked):	Angiosperms
(unranked):	Eudicots
(unranked):	Rosids
Order:	Fabales
Family:	Fabaceae
Genus:	Acacia
Species:	A. erioloba
Binomial name
Acacia erioloba E.Mey. (1791-1858)

Acacia erioloba is also commonly known as the Camel Thorn, Kameeldoring (Afrikaans), Giraffe Thorn or Mokala (Tswana). The Mokala National Park in the Northern Cape is named after this tree. The type specimen of Acacia giraffae, proved on closer examination to be a hybrid of A. haematoxylon and the species which would later become known as A. erioloba. The name A. erioloba was therefore proposed for the vast numbers of Camel Thorn which are not hybrids.

It is a thorn acacia native to the drier parts of Southern Africa. Its preferred habitat is deep sandy soils. It occurs in the Transvaal, western Free State, northern Cape Province, Botswana, the western areas of Zimbabwe and Namibia. The tree was first described by Ernst Heinrich Friedrich Meyer & Johann Franz Drège in 1836.

The tree can grow up to 17 metres high. Its name refers to the fact that giraffe (kameelperd in Afrikaans) commonly graze on the hard-to-reach succulent leaves normally out of reach of smaller animals. Giraffe are partial to all acacias 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 A. erioloba more readily than other trees.

The Camel Thorn's seeds can be roasted and used as a substitute for coffee beans.

Gallery

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

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  Many Acacia erioloba seeds, in or out of their husks, lying scattered upon the ground,Sossusvlei, Namib Dessert, Namibia

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

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

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  Acacia erioloba tree in the Namib Desert