Senegalia ferruginea - Rusty Acacia

Rusty Acacia is normally a smallish, drought-resistant, deciduous tree, not more than 12 m tall. It commonly has a bole rarely straight for more then 2-3 m. Branches are slender, armed with conical prickles; spine persist on trunk until it reaches about 15 cm. Twigs are zigzag at nodes, wiry, hairless, green or reddish. Primary roots are long, thin, tapering, wiry, yellow to brown. Leaves are alternately arranged, double-compound. prickles twin, infra-stipular, slightly curved. Common petiole 7-15 cm long; sidestalks are 4-6 pairs, leaflets 15-30 pairs, grey to glacuous (almost white when dry), linear, 0.6-1.25 cm long. Flowers are pale yellow in numerous lax axillary spikes about 14 cm long, which are often panicled at the end of the branches. Pods are smooth, 7-18 x 2-2.5 cm, contain a dry sweetish pulp, dark brown and pinnately splitting, 3-7 seeded. Seeds are 0.5-0.7 x 0.35-0.5 cm, flat ovate, oblong, distinctly stalked, and this is a diagnostic feature, greenish to brown.