Common Name: prairie acacia

Duration: Perennial

Nativity: Native

Lifeform: Subshrub

General: Low shrubs usually less than 1 m tall, with deeply grooved twigs, often hispid or long-hirsute.

Leaves: Leaves 10-25 cm long, with primary leaflets usually in 2-14 pairs, acute or obtuse at apices, secondary leaflets in 9-33 pairs, leaflets linear-oblong, 3-6 mm long, usually 1 mm or less broad, with a few appressed hairs along margins, scalelike stipules, brown 2-3 mm long, ciliate.

Flowers: Globose, in terminal or axillary racemes 10-30 cm long, on peduncles 1-2.5 cm long, striate, glabrous to hirsute; calyx broadly turbinate, green 0.8-1 mm long; petals green, separate, 2.5 mm long, stamens white or pale cream, rarely pinkish, 5-6 mm long.

Fruits: Pod, linear-oblong, 8-12 mm broad, 4-7 cm long; reddish brown, acute at apex, glabrous or bearing a few scattered simple hairs.

Ecology: Found on gravelly soils, often on slopes from 3,000-6,500 ft (914-1981 m); flowers April-September.

Distribution: MO to TX and AZ; south to Guatemala; also s FL

Notes: Also known as white-ball acacia. A widely variable species, with several varieties and subspecies in the region. Ours are mostly var. suffretescens, which intergrades with other varieties. Separable from the other Acaciella by its shorter stature, as well as the distinctly pedicelled flowers. This species lacks the stipular spines that are so common in the Acacia group. Note the nomenclature change for the entire genus.

Ethnobotany: Unknown, but other species in the genus have uses.

Etymology: Acacia is from Greek akakie taken from ake or akis, -a sharp point, while angustissimus means narrow or thin leaved.

Synonyms: Acacia angustissima, along with many varieties and subspecies.

Editor: SBuckley, 2010