Kauaʻi record · kba_plant_vachellia_nilotica
Gum arabic tree
Vachellia nilotica
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About Gum arabic tree
Gum arabic tree (Vachellia nilotica) is a post-contact introduced tree documented on Kauaʻi through historical forestry planting records. The reviewed records do not establish present survival. Native from Africa and the Middle East east to the Indian subcontinent, across seasonally dry woodland, savanna, river margins and floodplains. Insect-pollinated flower heads produce hard-coated seeds in thick pods; native-range large herbivores often disperse seeds after eating the pods, and root nodules support nitrogen fixation.
Kauaʻi evidence
Taxonomic identity, tree form, diagnostic morphology and island occurrence use the linked reviewed sources. Historical planting, cultivation, naturalization and invasive status are separate. Generated imagery is not occurrence evidence. The 1918–1959 Kauaʻi reforestation working register records 202 plants under Acacia nilotica across 1 entries dated 1927. These are recorded planting quantities, not counts of surviving trees, and they do not by themselves establish current persistence, naturalization, or ecological impact. Source: Kauaʻi Reforestation Plantings 1918–1959 working register (user-supplied; reconciled 6 October 2026).
Names and classification
- Scientific name
- Vachellia nilotica
- Common names
- Gum arabic tree · Egyptian thorn · prickly acacia · babul
- Other names
- Vachellia nilotica · gum arabic tree · Egyptian thorn · prickly acacia · babul · Acacia nilotica · Mimosa nilotica
- Record type
- Species
Kauaʻi occurrence and status
- Kauaʻi occurrence
- Recorded on Kauaʻi
- Origin
- Introduced
- Conservation status
- Not yet assessed
- Evidence date
- 2026-10-05
- Evidence limits
- Current extent is unassessed; public locality is island level only.
Habitat and ecology
- Habitats
- Not yet assessed
- Food and resource needs
- Not yet assessed
- Reproduction
- Not yet assessed
- Shelter
- Not yet assessed
- Growth form
- Woody tree
Threats and conservation
- Monitoring
- Not yet assessed
- Data gaps
- Current population extent and trajectory · Additional species-specific ecological and conservation sources
Process and seasonal context
- Seasonal timing
- Not yet assessed
- Seasonal description
- Gum arabic tree (Vachellia nilotica) is a post-contact introduced tree documented on Kauaʻi through historical forestry planting records. The reviewed records do not establish present survival. Native from Africa and the Middle East east to the Indian subcontinent, across seasonally dry woodland, savanna, river margins and floodplains. Insect-pollinated flower heads produce hard-coated seeds in thick pods; native-range large herbivores often disperse seeds after eating the pods, and root nodules support nitrogen fixation.