Fabaceae
Vachellia

Vachellia cernua (Thulin & A.S.Hassan) Kyal. & Boatwr.

First published in Bot. J. Linn. Soc. 172: 511 (2013)
This species is accepted
The native range of this species is N. Somalia. It is a shrub or tree and grows primarily in the desert or dry shrubland biome.

Descriptions

Extinction risk predictions for the world's flowering plants to support their conservation (2024). Bachman, S.P., Brown, M.J.M., Leão, T.C.C., Lughadha, E.N., Walker, B.E. https://nph.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.1111/nph.19592

Conservation
Predicted extinction risk: threatened. Confidence: confident
[AERP]

IUCN Red List of Threatened Species https://www.iucnredlist.org/species/35158/9915630

Conservation
NT - near threatened
[IUCN]

M. Thulin et al. Flora of Somalia Vol. 1-4 [updated 2008] https://plants.jstor.org/collection/FLOS

Type
N2, escarpment S of Laasqoray, 11°03’N, 48°16’E, Thulin, Dahir & Hassan 9188 (UPS holo., FT K iso.)
Morphology General Habit
Slender tree, 2–5 m tall, with characteristically hanging terminal branches and a glaucous foliage; bark smooth, ash grey to white, not flaking; young branchlets purplish-brown, glabrous or pubescent with ± appressed hairs and soon glabrescent
Morphology General Spines
Stipular spines up to 15 mm long, slender, straight
Morphology Leaves
Pinnae (1–)2–4 pairs; leaflets 4–11 pairs, 2–4.5(–7.5) x 0.8–2(–3) mm, glabrous or sparsely ciliate when young
Morphology Reproductive morphology Flowers
Flowers pale yellow, in heads 5–5.5 mm in diam.; peduncles 6–15 mm long (up to 25 mm in fruit), with involucel in lower half
Morphology Reproductive morphology Flowers Calyx
Calyx c. 1.2 mm long
Morphology Reproductive morphology Flowers Corolla
Corolla c. 2 mm long, glabrous
Morphology Reproductive morphology Fruits
Pods straight or curved slightly upwards in upper part, linear-oblong, dehiscent, 3.5–7 x 0.8–1.3 cm, purplish-brown, with oblique veins which converge to become longitudinal in the middle of the valves, sparsely to densely puberulous with appressed hairs
Morphology Reproductive morphology Seeds
Seeds elliptic to narrowly ovate or almost rhombic in outline, c. 7–8 x 3.5–4 mm; areole central, c. 4.4–4.8 x 1.4–1.6 mm.
Distribution
N2 not known elsewhere.
Ecology
Altitude range 400–625 m.
Vernacular
Cabab (Somali)
Note
Close to A. etbaica, but easily distinguished by its slender, hanging, terminal branchlets, slender spines, glaucous foliage, smooth, ash-grey to white bark, and by its small flower heads.
[FSOM]

Sources

  • Angiosperm Extinction Risk Predictions v1

    • Angiosperm Threat Predictions
    • http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0

  • Flora of Somalia

    • Flora of Somalia
    • http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/3.0

  • Herbarium Catalogue Specimens

    • Digital Image © Board of Trustees, RBG Kew http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/

  • IUCN Categories

    • IUCN Red List of Threatened Species
    • http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/3.0

  • Kew Names and Taxonomic Backbone

    • The International Plant Names Index and World Checklist of Vascular Plants 2024. Published on the Internet at http://www.ipni.org and https://powo.science.kew.org/
    • © Copyright 2023 International Plant Names Index and World Checklist of Vascular Plants. http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0

  • World Checklist of Vascular plants (WCVP)

    • The International Plant Names Index and World Checklist of Vascular Plants 2024. Published on the Internet at http://www.ipni.org and https://powo.science.kew.org/
    • © Copyright 2023 World Checklist of Vascular Plants. http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0