Vachellia karroo

Vachellia karroo, the sweet thorn or Karoo thorn, is an evergreen to semi-deciduous small to medium-sized tree of the Fabaceae family, growing 4 to 12 metres tall with a rounded, somewhat spreading crown that branches fairly low on the trunk. The bark is smooth and reddish on young branches, becoming dark grey-brown, rough and fissured with age. Leaves are bipinnate with several pairs of pinnae each carrying many small, finely textured dark green leaflets. Paired white to greyish stipular thorns flank each leaf node and can reach 50 to 100 mm or occasionally more in length on vigorous shoots. Bright golden-yellow, fragrant flowers are crowded into rounded pompon-like heads that smother the canopy in early summer, attracting many insect pollinators. Flat, narrow, sickle-shaped pods follow. The species is native to southern Africa from Angola through Mozambique to South Africa, where it is a defining tree of savanna, bushveld and the Karoo.