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Vachellia farnesiana var. farnesiana - fruit

Vachellia farnesiana var. farnesiana

Vachellia farnesiana var. farnesiana

Vachellia farnesiana var. farnesiana

Vachellia farnesiana var. farnesiana - habit

Vachellia farnesiana var. farnesiana

Vachellia farnesiana var. farnesiana - immature fruit

Vachellia farnesiana var. farnesiana

Vachellia farnesiana var. farnesiana - leaves

Vachellia farnesiana var. farnesiana

Name

Vachellia farnesiana (Linnaeus) Wight & Arnott  Prodr. fl. Ind. orient. 272. 1834. 
syn.  Acacia farnesiana (L.) Willd., Sp. pl. 4:1083. 1806.

Synonymy and types

Basionym:  Mimosa farnesiana L., Sp. pl. 521. 1753. - Acacia farnesiana (L.) Willd., Sp. pl. 4:1083. 1806. - Poponax farnesiana (L.) Raf., Sylva tellur. 118. 1838. - TYPE: Aldinus, Exactissima descriptio rariorum plantarum Romae in Horto Franesiano: 2-7, 1625, which provides, under the name Acacia Indica Farnesiana, a detailed description and two illustrations of a plant in cultivation in the garden of Cardinal Farnese in Rome [lectotype, designated by Ross (1975)].

Acacia pedunculata Willd., Sp. pl. 4:1084. 1806. - Mimosa pedunculata (Willd.) Poir. in Lam. Encycl. Suppl. 1:81. 1810. - Acacia farnesiana (L.) Willd. f. pedunculata (Willd.) Kuntze, Revis. gen. pl. 3(2):47. 1898. - TYPE: JAVA. (holotype: B-Willd.).

Acacia acicularis Humb. & Bonpl. ex Willd., Enum. pl. 1056. 1809. - TYPE: in America meridionali (holotype: B-Willd.).

Acacia edulis Humb. & Bonpl. ex Willd., Enum. pl. 1056. 1809. - TYPE: in America meridionali (holotype: B-Willd.).

Acacia ferox M. Martens & Galeotti, Bull. Acad. Roy. Sci. Bruxelles 10:314. 1843. - TYPE: MEXICO. OAXACA: se trouve abondamment dans les plaines d'Oaxaca, de Tlacolula et d'Etla, de 5,000 pieds, Fl. jaunes, H.Galeotti 3223 (holotype: BR; isotype: K). (Rudd 1976-1982).

Acacia lenticellata F. Muell., J. Proc. Linn. Soc., Bot. 3:147. 1859. - Acacia farnesiana (L.) Willd. var. lenticellata (F. Muell.) F. M. Bailey, Compr. Queensland Pl. 164. 1913. - TYPE: AUSTRALIA. NORTHERN TERRITORIES: McArthur River, F.Mueller 43 (Pedley 1979).

Acacia smallii Isely, Sida 3:384. 1969. - TYPE: UNITED STATES. LOUISIANA: Lafourche Parish, along Bayou La Fourche near Cut-off, 16 Apr 1931 and Aug 1931, J.K.Small & E.J.Alexander s.n. (holotype: NY; isotypes: US, WIS).

Farnesia odora Gasp., Descr. nuov. gen. Leg. 1836. -TYPE: none cited [lectotype, designated here, plate of Farnesia odora in Gasparrini (1836)]

Poponax venosa Britton in Britton and Killip, Ann. New York Acad. Sci. 35:139. 1936. - TYPE: COLOMBIA. ANTIOQUIA: vicinity of Medellín, 20 Aug 1927, R.A.Toro 478 (holotype: NY).

Vachellia densiflora Alexander ex Small, Man. s. e. fl. 655, 1505. 1933. - Acacia densiflora (Alexander ex Small) Cory, Rhodora 38:406. 1936. - Acacia minuta (M. E. Jones) R. M. Beauch. subsp. densiflora (Alexander ex Small) R. M. Beauch., Phytologia 46:7. 1980. - TYPE: UNITED STATES. LOUISIANA: Lafourche Parish, along Bayou La Fourche near Cut-off, 16 Apr 1931 and Aug 1931, J.K.Small & E.J.Alexander s.n. (holotype: NY; isotypes: US, WIS).

Formal description

Large shrub to small tree 8 m tall. Bark dark gray to brown, furrowed. Twigs dark reddish brown to dark gray, slightly flexuous, usually glabrous. Short shoots commonly present above the stipular spines, to 10 mm long, covered with acuminate stipules and old leaf bases. Leaves alternate, also commonly clustered on the short shoots, 7-65 mm long.
Stipular spines light to dark brown, usually becoming light gray with age, symmetrical, terete, straight, stout, to 35(55) x 1.5 mm near the base, mostly glabrous. Petiole adaxially grooved, 3-12(17) mm long, usually sparsely pubescent with erect hairs; petiolar gland solitary, usually located medially on the petiole, sessile to short stalked, circular to slightly elongated, 0.2-1.0 mm long, apex depressed, glabrous. Rachis adaxially grooved, 10-55 mm long, usually sparsely pubescent with erect hairs, a sessile, circular gland, 0.2-0.4 mm across, between the upper 1 to 2 pinna pairs. Pinnae 4 to 6 pairs per leaf, 16-33 mm long, 2-12(16) mm between pinna pairs. Petiolules 0.5-2.0 mm long. Leaflets 8 to 19 pairs per pinna, opposite, 0.5-2.0 mm between leaflets, oblong, 3.0-6.3 x 0.5-1.7 mm, mostly glabrous, lateral veins usually obvious, only one vein from the base, base oblique, margins usually not ciliate, apex broadly acute to obtuse. Inflorescence a densely flowered globose head, 6-10 mm across, solitary or in clusters of 2 to 5 on the short shoots. Peduncles 12-36(45) x 0.2-0.7 mm, lightly puberulent. Involucre 4- to 5-lobed, located at the base of the globose head, glabrous to lightly puberulent, persistent. Floral bracts spatulate, 0.8-1.3 mm long, apex puberulent, deciduous. Flowers sessile, bright yellow; calyx 5-lobed, 1.1-1.8 mm long, glabrous or nearly so; corolla 5-lobed, 1.9-2.8 mm long, glabrous or nearly so; stamen filaments 3.5-5.5 mm long, distinct; ovary glabrous to puberulent, on a stipe to 0.2 mm long. Legumes dark brown to black, straight to slightly curved, nearly terete in cross section, not constricted between the seeds, oblong, 30-90 x 9-18 mm, coriaceous, reticulately striate, glabrous, eglandular, indehiscent; stipe to 7 mm long; apex obtuse to acuminate, sometimes beaked. Seeds mostly biseriate, imbedded in a sweet pulp, olive green to dark brown, ovoid to ellipsoid, slightly flattened, 4.2-8.0 x 3.5-5.8 mm, smooth; pleurogram U-shaped to oval, 2.5-4.5 mm across. Flowers intermittently throughout the year. Chromosome number: 2n = 26 (Ghimpu 1929a, 1929b)

Distribution

On relatively moist to seasonally dry sites in thickets, open pastures, successional fields and other disturbed sites from sea level to about 1500 m (Bush and Van Auken 1995). It has a pantropical distribution, but was probably introduced in the Old World (Isely 1969). In the New World it occurs from the southern United States in southern Arizona, Texas and Florida south through the Bahamas and the West Indies, Mexico and Central America to Argentina in South America (Clarke et al. 1989).

Additional info

Vachellia farnesiana var. farnesiana is found in relatively dry, disturbed habitats throughout much of the tropical and subtropical region of the New World where it is common as an early successional species (Bush and Van Auken 1995). It is relatively variable in its characteristics, ranging from a small shrub to a tree 8 m tall, commonly nearly glabrous to lightly pubescent throughout, but occasionally, individuals are relatively densely pubescent, particularly on the leaf rachis and leaflets. The leaves, leaflets, and petioles of this species vary greatly in size. Throughout most of its range this taxon has leaves with 1-4(5) pinnae pairs, while many individuals from central South America have leaves with 5-7 pinnae pairs. Leaflet size is also highly variable. Most specimens have leaflets that are less than 6 mm long, but some specimens, particularly those from Brazil and Ecuador, the leaflets are up to 7.5 mm long and nearly 2 mm wide. Many specimens from Sonora, Mexico have leaflets that are pubescent beneath.

Acacia smallii, considered specifically distinct from Vachellia farnesiana by Isely (1990), represents some of the variation displayed by V. farnesiana var farnesiana. This taxon is known from the Florida panhandle to western Texas, sporadically to southern California and Mexico, and is extremely common in southern Texas. Acacia smallii usually has been distinguished from V. farnesiana by having leaflets that are mostly less than 4 mm long that lack obvious secondary venation (Isely 1969, 1973, 1990). These characteristics are highly variable; individuals with large leaflets, but lacking secondary venation are sometimes encountered, as are plants with small leaflets with secondary venation. Though there is a tendency for these characters to occur together, the distinction between these taxa breaks down in northern Mexico. Also the authors have found individuals in which slow growing branches have leaves with small leaflets that lack secondary venation, while on more rapidly growing branches, larger leaflets have obvious secondary venation. Due to the lack of consistent characters this entity is included in synonymy.

Vachellia farnesiana var. farnesiana has been reported from most countries of South America. During the present study, only a few specimens were recorded from southern South America, the taxon becoming very common to the north in Brazil, Ecuador, Peru, Columbia and Venezuela. Reports of this taxon from southern South America mostly are based on specimens of V. caven or V. astringens.  Vachellia farnesiana is easily separated from these two taxa as it generally has larger leaflets with obvious veins and longer pedicels than found in V. caven, while the inflated fruit with the seeds in two or more rows separates it from V. astringens. Also, the doughnut-shaped gland between the lower most pinna pair in V. astringens is not found in V. farnesiana, which has a small gland on the middle third of the petiole.

Vachellia farnesiana var. farnesiana also had been confused with V. albicoricata, V. insulae-iacobi and V. tortuosa. The smaller leaflets that usually exceed 11 pairs per pinnae, and the closely spaced leaflets on the pinnae separates this species from the two former species, while the shorter, glabrous, inflated fruits in which the seeds are in several rows, separate this species from V. tortuosa, which has fruit with constrictions between the single row of seeds.

Seigler et al. (1979) found that the major cyanogenic glycosides of Vachellia farnesiana are linamarin and lotaustralin, and that the amount of cyanide produced by plants within a population varies from below the level of detection to approximately 5 umol per g of dried plant material. More recently, Clarke et al. (1989) reported that of the numerous Central American specimens of V. farnesiana tested for cyanide, 89% gave a positive test. Although most tests were weak, a few were strongly positive. Of the more than 150 specimens examined from South America, only 45% tested positive, with over half being weakly positive.

This species is commonly cultivated in southern Europe for a perfume that is made from the fragrant flowers. It southern Europe and parts of Africa it is abundant on dry, disturbed sites, and has become a serious pest.

Flowering time:

Intermittently throughout the year.

Representative specimens

UNITED STATES:

Alabama:

Mobile Co.:

Arizona:

Maricopa Co.:

Pima Co.:

Pinal Co.:

Yuma Co.:

Arkansas:

Pulaski Co.:

Florida:

Alachua Co.:

Brevard Co.:

Citrus Co.:

Collier Co.:

Dade Co.:

Escambia Co.:

Franklin Co.:

Hendry Co.:

Highland Co.:

Hillsborough Co.:

Lee Co.:

Manatee Co.:

Marion Co.:

Monroe Co.:

Nassau Co.:

Pinellas Co.:

Polk Co.:

Auburndale, 25 May 1931, J.B.McFarlin 5487 (FLAS); (naturalized)  

Seminole Co.:

Volusia Co.:

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Liberty Co.:

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Jefferson Co.:

Jim Hogg Co.:

Kinney Co.:

Lavaca Co.:

Lee Co.:

Maverick Co.:

McMullen Co.:

Nueces Co.:

Real Co.:

San Patricio Co.:

Travis Co.:

Val Verde Co.:

Victoria Co.:

Webb Co.:

Wharton Co.:

Wilson Co.:

Zapata Co.:

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