Vachellia farnesiana

Plant Characteristics

Habit		shrub
Lifespan:	⌛	perennial

Cultivation

Exposure:	☼	sun
Features:	✓	evergreen, deciduous, bees
Sunset Zones:		13-26

Scientific Names

Fabaceae >

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farnesiana >

(L.) Willd. >

Vachellia farnesiana, previously known as Acacia farnesiana, commonly known as Needle Bush, is so named because of the numerous thorns distributed along its branches. The native range of V. farnesiana is uncertain. While the point of origin is Mexico and Central America the species has a pantropical distribution incorporating Northern Australia and Southern Asia. It remains unclear whether the extra-American distribution is primarily natural or anthropogenic. It is deciduous over part of its range, but evergreen in most locales. The species grows to a height of up to 8 m ft and has a life span of about 25–50 years.

The plant has been recentlyTemplate:When spread to many new locations as a result of human activity and it is considered a serious weed in Fiji, where locals call it Ellington's Curse. It thrives in dry, saline or sodic soils. It is also a serious pest plant in parts of Australia, including north-west New South Wales, where it now infests thousands of acres of grazing country.

The taxon name "farnesiana" is specially named after Odoardo Cardinal Farnese (1573–1626) of the notable Italian Farnese family which, after 1550, under the patronage of cardinal Alessandro Farnese, maintained some of the first private European botanical gardens in Rome, in the 16th and 17th centuries. Under stewardship of these Farnese Gardens this acacia was imported to Italy. The addition of the -ol in the compound ending is a result of it being chemically an alcohol. The plant itself was brought to the Farnese Gardens from the Caribbean and Central America, where it originates. Analysis of essences of the floral extract from this plant, long used in perfumery, resulted in the name for the sesquiterpene biosynthetic chemical farnesol, found as a basic sterol precursor in plants, and cholesterol precursor in animals..

Read about Vachellia farnesiana in the Standard Cyclopedia of Horticulture

Vachellia farnesiana. (many synonyms). Much-branching shrub, 6-10ft.: stipules straight, slender, sometimes minute spines; pinnae 5-8 pairs; lfts. mostly 10-25 pairs, 1-2 lines long, narrow, linear, glabrous: peduncles 2 or 3 in the older axils; fl.-heads large, globular, deep yellow, very fragrant, pods almost terete, indehiscent, at length turgid and pulpy. Feb., March. Texas, Mex., Asia, Afr. and Austral. Grown in France for perfumery.—Its origin is probably American, but it is now naturalized in nearly every tropical country. It was intro. into the Hawaiian Isls. as an ornamental, but escaped from cult, and has now almost become a pest. A new variety of Vachellia farnesiana has been discovered which is more hardy than the type and grows more rapidly. It produces two crops of fls. a year, which makes it very lucrative for the making of perfumery. The pods are said to contain a tannin.CH The above text is from the Standard Cyclopedia of Horticulture. It may be out of date, but still contains valuable and interesting information which can be incorporated into the remainder of the article. Click on "Collapse" in the header to hide this text.

Cultivation

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Propagation

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Pests and diseases

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Varieties

• Acacia farnesiana (L.) Willd. var. farnesiana
• Acacia farnesiana (L.) Willd. var. guanacastensis H.D.Clarke et al.

Common names include^wp: Farnese Wattle, Dead Finish, Mimosa Wattle, Mimosa bush, Prickly Mimosa Bush, Prickly Moses, Needle Bush, North-west Curara, Sheep's Briar, Sponge Wattle, Sweet Acacia, Thorny Acacia, Thorny Feather Wattle, Wild Briar, Huisache, Cassie, Cascalotte, Cassic, Mealy Wattle, Popinac, Sweet Briar, Texas Huisache, Aroma, (Bahamas) Cashia, (Bahamas, USA) Opoponax, Cashaw, (Belize) Cuntich, (Jamaica) Cassie-flower, Cassie, Iron Wood, Cassie Flower, Honey-ball, Casha Tree, Casha, (Virgin Islands) Cassia, (Fiji) Ellington's Curse, Acacia farnesiana, Acacia leptophylla, Acacia acicularis, Acacia farnesiana var. lenticellata, Acacia indica, Acacia lenticellata, Acacia minuta, Acacia minuta subsp. minuta, Farnesia odora, Farnesiana odora, Mimosa acicularis, Mimosa farnesiana, Mimosa indica, Mimosa suaveolens, Pithecellobium acuminatum, Pithecellobium minutum, Popanax farnesiana, Poponax farnesiana

Gallery

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  Bark and Thorns of Vachellia farnesiana

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  Vachellia farnesiana (L.) Willd. - sweet acacia seeds

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References

• Standard Cyclopedia of Horticulture, by L. H. Bailey, MacMillan Co., 1963

External links

• w:Vachellia farnesiana. Some of the material on this page may be from Wikipedia, under the Creative Commons license.
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