Roemer's Acacia (Senegalia roemeriana)

   

Overview of Senegalia roemeriana. Chihuahuan Desert Gardens. Photograph by Wynn Anderson.

 

Left: Flowers, Chihuahuan Desert Gardens. Right: Foliage and stems, Pecos County, Texas. Photographs by Wynn Anderson.

Seed pods of Roemer's Acacia, Chihuahuan Desert Gardens. Photograph by Wynn Anderson.

• Common English Names: Roemer's Acacia, Romer’s Catclaw
• Common Spanish Names: Una de Gato
• Scientific Name: Senegalia roemeriana (sen-eh-GAL-ee-ah row-mare-ree-ANN-uh)
• Family: Fabaceae (Legume Family)
• Geographic Range: Eddy Co., N.M., to Big Bend, across southeastern Trans-Pecos Texas to Edwards Plateau and South Texas. In Mexico, Chihuahua, Coahuila, Nuevo León and Baja California.
• Description: Deciduous shrub, 10' H X 15' W, rarely small tree to 15' H with creamy white fluffy ball-like (globose) flowers, often with reddish exerted stamens, precede new foliage in spring on numerous spreading branches forming rounded crown. New stems and emerging leaves often dark red, as are re-curved thorns and ripe seed pods; lacy compound leaves mature deep green.
• Landscape Use: Commercially available xeric shrub that provides an attractive accent despite the unpleasant recurved thorns. Good honey plant. Low water, full sun, well drained soil, hardy to 15°.
• Notes: Formerly known as Acacia roemeriana.

Last Update: 17 Sep 2013.