Marabou-thorn

Dichrostachys cinerea, marabou thorn or sicklebush, is a deciduous, multi-stemmed thorny shrub or small tree in the family Fabaceae reaching 3 to 7 metres in height, widely distributed across sub-Saharan Africa, the Indian subcontinent and northern Australia, where it grows in savanna, dry woodland and disturbed ground. The bark is grey-brown and fissured, and stems bear sharp, modified-shoot spines up to 8 centimetres long. Leaves are bipinnate with 5 to 19 pairs of pinnae each carrying many small, narrow leaflets 2 to 6 millimetres long, giving a feathery appearance. The species is unmistakable in flower: the pendulous, bicoloured cylindrical spikes 6 to 8 centimetres long bear sterile pink or mauve staminoidal flowers in the upper half and fertile yellow flowers below, often likened to a Chinese lantern or bottlebrush. Fruits are clusters of twisted, contorted brown pods 5 to 10 centimetres long containing several hard seeds. The tree is nitrogen-fixing, drought-tolerant and considered an invasive woody encroacher in some regions.