Common Name: viscid acacia

Duration: Perennial

Nativity: Native

Lifeform: Shrub

General: Shrub 1-2 m tall with paired spines at nodes aging white, branching is open with several long, straggling stems from the base, young twigs and leaves sticky-glandular.

Leaves: Alternate, twice compound with 1-2 (occasionally 3) pairs of pinnae each with 7-9 pairs of crowded leaflets up to 2 mm long; leaflets with dot-like glands secreting resin, making the foliage sticky.

Flowers: Yellow and fragrant in dense, globose heads about 1 cm in diameter; flowering June-August.

Fruits: Linear strait-slightly curved pods 4-cm long and 3-5 cm wide, constricted between seeds.

Ecology: Rocky slopes and plains, often in calcareous soils; primarily of the Chihuahuan Desert in scrub and grasslands but also in west-central Sonoran Desert; 2500-5500 ft (800-1600 m)

Distribution: se AZ, s NM, w TX and n MEX.

Notes: V. vernicosa (formerly Acacia neovernicosa) and V. constricta (formerly A. constricta) are very similar in appearance, the former distinguished by having 1-2 (occasionally 3) pairs of leaflets (3-7 in constricta), resinous foliage and a consistently shorter stature (constricta can reach 4 m). It is different from A. greggii and Mimosa biuncifera by having straight spines (curved in the others) and Calliandra eriophylla is unarmed. The diploid A. neovernicosa is closely related to the tetraploid A. constricta and may be ancestral to it. It was once a subspecies of constricta but elevated to species level due to lack of intermediates and differences in ploidy levels. They rarely hybridize where ranges overlap, likely due to differences in flowering time and chromosome number.

Ethnobotany: Acacia species were traditionally used as food, fuel, tools and building materials by Native American tribes in the region since prehistoric times. The seeds of many species were dried, pounded and ground into a coarse meal for mush, porridge or cakes. The genus contains toxic compounds, too and has been known to poison livestock.

Etymology: Acacia is from Greek akakie taken from ake or akis, -a sharp point-, the latin vernicosa means -varnished- or -shiny- and neo refers to -new-.

Synonyms: Acacia constricta var. vernicosa, A. vernicosa, Acacia neovernicosa

Editor: FSCoburn, 2014

Plant: Shrub to 3 m with paired spines at nodes aging white, young twigs and leaves sticky-glandular

Leaves: leaves alternate, twice compound with 1-2 pairs of pinnae

Flowers: flowers yellow in dense globose heads

Fruit: a linear strait-slightly curved pod, constricted between seeds.