Polys 1355712
Verts 1819184
Height 13M


Acacia, commonly known as the wattles or acacias, is a large genus of shrubs and trees in the subfamily Mimosoideae of the pea family Fabaceae. It comprises a group of plant genera native to Africa and Australasia. The genus name is New Latin from the Greek word for 'thorn' from the habit of many species originally included in the genus.[4]

In the early 2000s it had become evident that the genus as it stood was not monophyletic and that several divergent lineages needed to be placed in separate genera. It turned out that one lineage comprising over 900 species mainly native to Australia, New Guinea, and Indonesia was not closely related to the much smaller group of African lineage that contained A. nilotica—the type species. This meant that the Australasian lineage (by far the most prolific in number of species) would need to be renamed. Botanist Les Pedley named this group Racosperma, which was not adopted. Australian botanists proposed a less disruptive solution setting a different type species (A. penninervis) and allowing this largest number of species to remain Acacia, resulting in the two African lineages being renamed Vachellia and Senegalia, and the two New World lineages renamed Acaciella and Mariosousa.[5] This was officially adopted. Acacia remains a widely used common name across genera .

A number of species have been introduced to various parts of the world, and two million hectares of commercial plantations have been established.[6] The heterogeneous group[7] varies considerably in habit, from mat-like subshrubs to canopy trees in forest.